“He set Elias up,” I said. “If the project succeeded, Daniel owned the patents. If it failed, Elias took the financial hit for the missing millions.”

“Does Elias know?” Marcus asked.

“Elias is too arrogant to look at the routing numbers,” I said. “He trusted Daniel to handle the details while he focused on the stock price.”

I stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the dark harbor water.

The harbor lights blinked through the rain.

“We launch the firm at eight,” I said. “And we send the audit to the King Enterprises board at eight-thirty.”

“That will trigger an emergency board meeting,” Marcus said. “It will destroy Daniel.”

“And it will drag Elias into the mud with him,” I said.

I slept for three hours on the leather couch in my office.

When I woke, the sky was a pale, watery gray.

Clara was already at her desk, two large cardboard cups of coffee beside her keyboard.

“The website is live,” she said, not looking up. “Alcott Innovation is official.”

I opened my laptop and refreshed the page.