Ethan was sprawled across his bed, his arm hanging over the edge.

Lily was curled into a tight ball under her floral quilt.

They were safe here, away from the city and the courtrooms.

But if Daniel went to prison, their lives would be changed forever.

Their father’s name would be associated with a public scandal.

I closed the door gently and walked back to the kitchen.

The wind outside seemed to die down, leaving only the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks in the distance.

I picked up my phone and checked the call log.

There were no missed calls yet.

I sat back down and opened the digital folder Robert had shared with me.

I scrolled through the scanned pages of the old ledgers.

The handwriting was unmistakably Daniel’s.

He had a distinct way of writing his capital letters, with a slight tilt to the left.

Next to the numbers were his initials, verifying the entries.

He had documented his own fraud in black ink.

My phone began to vibrate in my hand, the sudden movement making me startle.