“Again.”
“Looks that way.”
“Who approved it?”
Jonathan looked uncomfortable.
“Your electronic signature.”
Adrian stopped.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“Then who?”
“We’re checking access.”
Adrian already knew.
Lauren knew his passwords.
Not all.
Enough.
She had access to the home office.
She occasionally scanned documents for him.
He trusted her.
“How many?”
“Twelve approvals.”
“I never signed them.”
“Then we have a very different problem.”
The financial investigation widened.
Lauren’s attorney advised her not to return to the house.
Camille Ortiz obtained a temporary agreement that Lauren would have no contact with Emma pending review.
No dramatic courtroom scene.
No screaming.
Just paperwork.
Adrian had spent his life thinking paperwork was boring.
Now paper was the wall between his daughter and someone who had frightened her.
Two days later, Lauren requested a private meeting with Adrian.
He refused.
She requested mediation.
He refused.
Then she sent a letter.
Not through counsel.
Directly.
Adrian almost deleted it.
Camille told him to preserve everything.
He read it.
Adrian,
I know what this looks like.
I know finding Hannah’s box makes everything between us look calculated.
Some of it was.
The sentence stopped him.
He kept reading.
Lauren admitted she knew who Adrian was before the gala.
She had followed news about Bennett Ridge for years.
When she learned he would attend the Hamilton Foundation event, she bought a ticket.
Not to seduce him.
According to her.
To find out whether Hannah had ever told him about the fraud investigation.
At the gala, Adrian spoke openly about Hannah’s illness and foundation.
Lauren realized he knew nothing.
She intended one conversation.
Then another happened.
Then dinner.
She claimed she fell in love with him for real.
Adrian almost threw the letter away.
He continued.
I did not marry you only for access.
I know you will never believe that now.
Maybe I don’t deserve to be believed.
But I loved you.
I also spent eight years terrified Hannah kept evidence that could destroy Matthew and me.
Matthew was the architect of the invoices.
I signed some.
I knew some were false.
Not all.
Hannah knew more than I wanted her to know.
When she got sick, the investigation ended.
I convinced myself the past had died with her.
Then Emma found the box.
Adrian stopped.
There.
Not rumor.
Not inference.
Admission.
Lauren continued.
She said Emma brought one photograph downstairs and asked why “Mommy had a picture of Lauren before Daddy knew her.”
Lauren panicked.
She asked where the box was.
Emma refused.
Lauren demanded.