Chương 12
That did not make anyone innocent.
It made the fraud more human.
Saraphina looked at Sloan.
“Why did you print these?”
Sloan’s expression tightened.
“Because I don’t trust my cloud files anymore.”
Elise asked, “Why?”
Sloan reached into the envelope again.
This time she pulled out a single page.
“I checked the PDF metadata.”
Derek leaned closer.
“What did you find?”
“The contracts on our server were replaced three months ago.”
Saraphina felt her pulse quicken.
“With what?”
“Versions that include my signature.”
Caldwell frowned.
“You signed them.”
Sloan looked at him.
“No.”
She held up the page.
“The contracts I originally received were never countersigned by me.”
Nobody spoke.
Sloan’s voice dropped.
“I was stupid enough to start work anyway.”
Derek took the page.
“Then someone added your signature later.”
“Yes.”
Saraphina looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because whoever copied it used my old signature.”
“What old signature?”
“The one from before I changed my name.”
Caldwell stared at her.
“You changed your name?”
Sloan gave him a hollow look.
“Before we met.”
Another thing he had never bothered to ask.
Saraphina almost felt sorry for them both.
Elise took the document.
“If this is accurate, we need original files, email headers, and server logs.”
Sloan nodded.
“I brought something else.”
She reached into the envelope.
Her hand stopped.
For the first time since returning, she looked afraid.
Saraphina saw it.
“What?”
Sloan pulled out a final sheet.
“It’s an email.”
“From whom?”
“Martin.”
Derek stepped forward.
“When?”
“Last month.”
Sloan looked directly at Saraphina.
“He told me to keep billing exactly as instructed.”
“Why?”
Sloan swallowed.
“Because if I stopped, he said the person behind the structure would know he had started talking.”
Caldwell went still.
Saraphina took the page.
There were only a few lines.
She read them once.
Then again.
The final sentence made her skin go cold.
Do not contact Caldwell or Saraphina about this until I can prove who has access.
Saraphina looked up.
“Did Martin ever tell you who he suspected?”
Sloan shook her head.
“No.”
“Did he hint?”
“No.”
Caldwell took the page from Saraphina.
His eyes moved quickly.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Derek asked.
Caldwell tapped the bottom.
“This email was sent from Martin’s personal account.”
“Yes.”
Sloan frowned.
“So?”
Caldwell looked at Saraphina.
“Martin doesn’t use this email anymore.”
Derek stared at him.
“What do you mean?”
“I helped him close it.”
“When?”
Caldwell looked back at the printed page.
“Three years ago.”
Derek stared at Caldwell as if he had misheard him.
“You closed Martin’s account?”
“I helped him recover documents from it before he shut it down.”
“Why?”
“Because it had been compromised.”
Sloan’s fingers tightened around the edge of the envelope.
“What do you mean compromised?”
Caldwell looked at her.
“Someone accessed it from overseas.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Elise took the printed email from his hand and studied the header line.
“Do you remember whether the provider confirmed a breach?”
“They confirmed unauthorized access.”
“Was law enforcement notified?”
Caldwell gave her a look.
“It was an email account.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Elise nodded once.
“Did Martin change passwords elsewhere?”
“Yes.”
“Did IT audit his company credentials?”
Caldwell’s expression shifted.
“I assumed they did.”
Derek closed his eyes.
“You assumed.”
Caldwell turned toward him.
“Do not start.”
“I am not starting anything.”
Derek’s voice remained low.
“You keep describing decisions that other people supposedly handled.”
“I was running a company.”
“So was I.”
The words landed harder than Derek seemed to intend.
Caldwell looked away.
Saraphina took the email back from Elise.
The sender address looked ordinary.
The timestamp looked ordinary.
That frightened her now.
Everything dangerous tonight had worn the shape of routine.
“Can an old account be reopened?” she asked.
Elise nodded.
“Possibly.”
“Can someone spoof the address?”
“Yes.”
“Can we tell from a printout?”
“No.”
Sloan let out a breath.
“So this could be fake.”
“It could.”
Saraphina looked at her.
“Or real.”
Sloan’s face tightened.
“I know.”
The security officer shifted near the doorway.
His radio crackled softly.
Several guests had begun leaving the banquet now.
Some avoided looking at Saraphina.
Others looked too long.
The host finally returned to the stage and announced that the charity auction would resume in ten minutes.
A few people clapped out of reflex.
The sound was painfully normal.
Saraphina glanced at the clock mounted beside the ballroom entrance.
Thirty-seven minutes had passed since she called Thaddius.
Caldwell followed her gaze.
“Congratulations.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“You got your thirty minutes.”
His voice held no humor.
Saraphina studied his face.
The bravado was gone.
What remained was tiredness, anger, and something more difficult.
He looked betrayed by the world, which might have been ridiculous if she had not once loved him.
“You think this is what I wanted?”
“You threatened it.”
“I told you what would happen.”
“You enjoyed it.”
“No.”
He laughed quietly.
“Come on.”
Saraphina felt heat rise in her chest.
“You threw your ring at me.”
“I know.”
“You called me a leech.”
“I did not call you that.”
“You stood there while your mother did.”
Caldwell’s eyes flicked toward Lenora.
She sat motionless in the chair, listening.
“That is different.”
Saraphina stared at him.
“No.”
He rubbed his face.
“No, it isn’t.”
The admission came so quietly that she almost missed it.
Lenora’s head lifted.
“Caldwell.”
He did not look at her.
Saraphina felt no victory.
Only exhaustion.
Sloan shifted the envelope against her body.
“I should probably call my lawyer.”
Elise nodded.
“Yes.”
Caldwell glanced at her.
“You have one?”
Sloan gave him a flat look.
“I run a business.”
He looked away.
She took out her phone and walked several steps toward the wall.
Her voice dropped immediately.
Derek watched her, then turned to Saraphina.
“There is something else.”
Caldwell exhaled.
“Of course there is.”
Derek ignored him.
“The Vantage deals.”
“What about them?”
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“The Brooklyn property was supposed to be a warehouse conversion.”
“Supposed to be?”
