His eyes were wide, the pupils dilated with a sudden, sharp anger.

“What did you do?” he demanded.

“I protected my family’s money,” I said. “The bank flagged the transaction as an unauthorized attempt to bypass the administrative hold.”

“That was two million dollars in liquid capital,” Pendelton said, stepping closer to my bed. “He needs those funds for his bail collateral.”

“The bail collateral is his problem,” I said. “The accounts are locked. No one can move a single dollar until the criminal trial is concluded.”

The older police officer cleared his throat.

“Sir,” the officer said to Pendelton. “I think you need to step back from the patient.”

Pendelton looked at the officer, then back at me.

He stuffed his phone into his pocket and picked up his manila envelope from the bedside table.

“This isn’t over, Natalie,” he said. “We will challenge the validity of that administrative hold in court tomorrow morning.”

“You can try,” I said. “But the compliance officer at Apex Trust is my former supervisor from the SEC. She knows exactly what Ethan did.”

He didn’t reply.