Chương 5
The distinction mattered.
"Who had access to the estate before my father died?" Sienna asked.
The question was directed at everyone.
Nobody answered immediately.
Victoria looked toward the documents.
Martin looked toward Harold.
Harold looked toward the floor.
That was enough for Sienna.
"There were more people involved than the four of us."
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
"Do not start accusing everyone."
"I am not."
"You are looking at everyone like they are suspects."
Sienna looked at her aunt.
"Because my father apparently was."
Victoria opened her mouth, then stopped.
The response she wanted to give never came.
Sienna noticed that too.
Her aunt had spent the entire morning prepared to fight.
Now she was choosing every word carefully.
That was a different kind of fear.
Harold walked toward the window and looked out at the estate grounds.
The gardener had moved farther away.
A delivery truck passed beyond the gates.
The world continued outside.
That always unsettled Sienna.
Major moments happened inside quiet rooms while strangers outside continued with ordinary lives.
"Arthur believed someone was moving money," Harold said.
Victoria turned toward him.
"Moving money?"
Harold nodded.
"Not stealing."
The distinction was immediate.
Sienna caught it.
"Explain."
"He thought funds were being redirected through several company accounts."
"By whom?"
"He did not know."
"You said he suspected someone close to him."
"He suspected someone with access."
Sienna glanced at the attorneys.
"That includes a lot of people."
"Yes."
"How much money?"
Harold hesitated.
"Enough that Arthur became concerned."
That answer was too careful.
Sienna noticed.
"How much?"
Harold looked uncomfortable.
"Approximately three million dollars over eighteen months."
The room changed.
Even Victoria stopped pretending the situation was smaller than it was.
Daniel Price lowered his folder.
"That is not a minor accounting issue."
"No," Harold said.
"It was not."
Sienna looked at Victoria.
Her aunt was staring at the table.
Three million dollars was not something a person forgot.
It was not a paperwork mistake.
It was a problem that left a trail.
"Why did nobody report this?" Sienna asked.
Harold looked at her.
"Because Arthur did not have proof."
"That is not a reason."
"It is when you know the consequences of being wrong."
Sienna disliked the answer.
Not because it was incorrect.
Because she understood it.
Her father had spent his entire career making decisions where mistakes affected people beyond himself.
He had always feared acting without evidence.
The same caution that made him respected had also made him slow.
Sometimes too slow.
"What did he do instead?" she asked.
"He investigated."
"By himself?"
"Mostly."
Victoria gave a quiet, bitter laugh.
"That sounds exactly like him."
Nobody responded.
She looked at Sienna.
"Your father thought he could carry everything alone."
There was sadness in the statement.
Real sadness.
For a moment, Sienna saw the sister beneath the conflict.
A woman who had lost her brother.
A woman who was also possibly hiding something.
Both could be true.
People were rarely only one thing.
"What did he find?" Sienna asked.
Harold looked at the envelope.
"He found enough to change his plans."
"His will?"
"Yes."
"Then why did the official documents stay the same?"
Harold's expression tightened.
"Because Arthur never completed the final process."
"Why not?"
"He changed his mind."
Sienna stared at him.
"About what?"
Harold turned back from the window.
"He realized changing the will would tell whoever was watching that he knew."
The attorneys exchanged looks.
Victoria crossed her arms.
"That sounds convenient."
Harold looked at her.
"Does it?"
The question was quiet.
Victoria looked away.
Sienna noticed the exchange.
There was history between them.
Not just family history.
Something recent.
Something unresolved.
"What happened at the meeting on September fourteenth?" Sienna asked.
Nobody answered.
She waited.
Eventually, Harold spoke.
"Arthur confronted Victoria."
Victoria's face hardened.
"I did not know what he was talking about."
"That is not what I said."
"You are implying it."
Harold looked tired.
"I am saying Arthur was upset."
"Because he thought I betrayed him."
"Because he was scared."
Victoria looked at him.
The anger in her face softened slightly.
"My brother was never scared."
Harold's expression changed.
"He was when it came to you."
The sentence hurt her.
Sienna saw it.
Victoria looked away quickly, but not before Sienna saw her eyes change.
A memory.
A wound.
Something old.
"My father trusted you," Sienna said.
Harold nodded.
"I know."
"Did he trust Victoria?"
Harold did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Victoria stood straighter.
"Do not do that."
Sienna looked at her.
"Do what?"
"Make me the villain because your father was disappointed."
"I am not."
"Yes, you are."
Victoria's voice rose.
"You came into this room already believing I wanted something from him."
Sienna felt the accusation because part of it was true.
She had arrived expecting a fight.
She had not expected uncertainty.
She had not expected to question her own assumptions.
"I came here because you tried to force me to sign documents without telling me my father changed his plans."
Victoria looked at her.
"Because I was trying to protect the family."
"From what?"
Victoria did not answer.
Again.
The pattern was becoming impossible to ignore.
Sienna leaned forward.
"You keep saying you were protecting people."
Her voice remained steady.
"But every time I ask what you were protecting them from, you stop talking."
Victoria's jaw tightened.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then she walked toward the table and picked up one of the documents.
"This."
She held the paper between her fingers.
"This is what I was protecting."
Sienna watched her.
"The estate?"
"No."
Victoria placed the document back down.
"The company."
The attorneys exchanged glances.
Victoria looked exhausted now.
"I knew Arthur was sick."
Sienna's expression changed slightly.
"You knew before he told me?"
Victoria looked down.
"Yes."
The answer was quiet.
Sienna felt something painful move through her chest.
She had been away during the worst months because her father insisted she continue her assignment.
May you like
He had told her he was fine.
He had told her everyone was exaggerating.
