“You have no liquid capital to run to, Emily,” he added.

I stood by the easel, my hand resting on the rough edge of the wood.

The smell of linseed oil and damp brick filled the small space between us.

“I know,” I said.

Clara smiled, a quick, sharp expression that didn’t reach her eyes.

“You should have taken the settlement offer when it was on the table, Emily,” Clara said.

“Daniel doesn’t leave loose ends.”

I looked at Daniel, watching the way his chest rose and fell beneath his tailored grey suit.

“I didn’t expect you to leave them, Daniel,” I said.

“That’s why I emptied the joint accounts three weeks ago.”

Daniel’s posture stiffened.

“Those funds are monitored,” he said. “Any unauthorized transfer over fifty thousand triggers a legal hold.”

“I didn’t transfer them to another bank,” I said.

I pulled a small, black leather binder from the bottom drawer of my desk.

I opened it to show the stamped notary seals from the state capital.

“I dissolved the joint signature authority on the Carter family trust,” I said.