“The year Daniel was the head financial administrator.”

“He signed off on the systematic denial of treatment for low-income patients to balance the books before your father’s firm invested.”

Charles’s face went pale.

“My father didn’t know about this,” he said quickly.

“But the public won’t care about that,” I replied. “They will see the Sterling name attached to a cover-up.”

“Daniel used your family’s capital to bury the bodies, Charles.”

“If this goes to the press, the Carter Group goes down, and your firm goes down with it.”

He stared at the signature of Daniel Carter at the bottom of the page.

He touched the paper, his thumb rubbing over the photocopy of the signature.

“This is thirty years old, Emily,” he said, though his voice lacked conviction.

“It’s a pattern of corporate fraud and human negligence,” I said.

“And it started with my mother, Helen.”

“If you cooperate with me, I will make sure the Sterling name is cleared of any prior knowledge.”

“How?” he asked, looking up at me.

“You provide the internal financial records from the merger,” I said.