“She found out about the article,” he said.

“What article?” I asked.

“The local paper back home is doing a piece on the family,” he said. “They called her for a quote about your new funding round.”

“She realized she didn’t have any shares in her own name,” he said.

“She told the reporter she was our chief advisor,” my father added.

I closed my eyes, leaning my back against the cold brick wall of the boutique.

“So she’s trying to buy out our friends to make her lie true,” I said.

“She says it’s for the family image,” my father said.

“She says you and Derek don’t understand how the world works.”

“She is going to ruin our relationship with our investors, Dad,” I said.

“I know,” he said. “I tried to tell her.”

“But she already wired the funds to the escrow account,” he said.

“How much did she wire?” I asked.

“All of it,” my father said.

“What do you mean, all of it?” I asked.

“She emptied the trust’s liquid reserves,” he said.

“She put everything into Blue Ridge Capital.”