“You gave my father’s money to her,” I said.

The words felt heavy, like lead on my tongue.

Victor looked at me, his eyes wide and bloodshot.

“Claire, please,” he said, taking a step toward me.

“It was a corporate structuring strategy.”

“A strategy?” I asked.

“We needed to shield the assets from tax liabilities,” he said, the words spilling out fast.

“By putting them in Brooke’s name?” I asked.

He didn’t answer.

He looked at the two men in the dark suits, who were now standing on either side of Evelyn.

The older of the two men pulled a laminated badge from his breast pocket.

“Mr. Hayes, we have a corporate mandate to secure all devices connected to the Hayes Development network,” the man said.

His voice was deep, carrying a thick northern accent.

“This is my personal phone,” Victor said, clutching the black device tighter.

“It’s not corporate property.”

“You used it to access the secure server,” Evelyn said.

“That makes it subject to the order.”

Victor backed up until his shoulder hit the glass partition of the conference room.