“He was paid fifty thousand dollars for that specific signature,” Elena said. “I have the wire transfer confirmation from Blue Sky Ventures to Pendelton’s offshore account on the exact same afternoon.”

“We have them,” I said.

“Are you ready to face her?” Elena asked. “Patricia will not go quietly. She has spent her whole life building this wall of lies.”

“I’ve spent the last three years rebuilding my life from the pieces she broke,” I said. “I am ready.”

“I’ll meet you at your penthouse at seven tomorrow morning,” Elena said. “We will go over the presentation one last time before we walk into their boardroom.”

“Thank you, Elena,” I said.

“Get some sleep, Claire,” she said. “You’re going to need it.”

The line went dead.

I set the receiver down and looked at the stack of court papers again.

The lawsuit was a desperate attempt to lock me in litigation, to drain my resources before I could expose the truth.

I stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Below, the yellow headlights of cars crept through the snowy Minneapolis streets.