I went up to my penthouse office and laid Clara’s wooden box on the mahogany conference table.

Julian and our legal team went to work, and within three hours he’d uncovered the rest of the rot.

“It’s worse than we thought, Eleanor,” Julian said, sliding a tablet toward me. “Blue Lantern isn’t just shielding Vance’s counterfeit liabilities. We tracked the stolen money. It’s being funneled into an offshore account owned by a woman named Chloe Mercer.”

“Who is Chloe Mercer?”

“An executive at Apex Industries. And according to these private-jet manifests and hotel receipts, she’s been Liam Vance’s mistress for the last three years.”

He pulled up a photo — Chloe, blonde, sharp, draped in diamonds. “Liam’s plan is textbook. He’s drowning his own company’s toxic debt in Clara’s name. Once the feds bust Blue Lantern, Clara goes to prison, Liam walks away clean, declares bankruptcy, and marries Chloe using the millions he stole through your daughter.”