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“No.” I shook my head, suddenly worn out and feeling forty rather than twenty-five.

He stared at me. The word surprised him more than it should have, which told me how rarely I’d said it.

“I’m not going to find out how much damage the investigator has done so you can contain it.”

“This is not a debate, Paul. This is the family firm.”

“It’s Lorrie’s life.”

“It was her life before that man started whispering in her ear.”

“Don’t blame her.”

My father’s eyes narrowed. “She allowed herself to be influenced by a hired investigator with partial information days before an important family occasion.”

“An important family occasion?”

“Our families have invested considerable time and expectation in the club dinner.”

“Lorrie is not a bond issue.”

His mouth tightened. “You’re being emotional. Perhaps this conversation should wait until you calm down.”

“No. It should have happened months ago.”

He picked up the Scotch then, took a measured drink, and set it down with a small click.

“What did she say?”

“That there won’t be a proposal Friday.”

The silence that followed wasn’t shock exactly. My father was too jaded for that.

“And you accepted that?”

“She wasn’t exactly asking for my permission.”

“She is overwrought. She’s been handed scraps by a man paid to create suspicion.”

“She was handed words from your own notes.”

His gaze sharpened as I felt the anger in the room shift.

“Careful with what you think you know.”

My father leaned back in his chair.

“Paul,” he said, lowering his voice, “you need to understand the consequences if this engagement falls apart.”

“It already has.”

“It hasn’t. The girl is upset. Give her time to calm down.” His jaw tightened. “You don’t have the experience yet to understand what you’re seeing at the firm.”

“I have enough experience to know moving client cash without clear authorization is a problem.”

“That money remained inside the firm.” He leaned forward. “Do you want the firm to fail?”

For years, that question would have worked and I would’ve backed down. I’d grown up understanding that Ellsworth & Pierce was not only a business but a future. The firm paid for the house, the school, the clubs, and the assumption that my life would continue upward if I stayed in the proper lane. I’d never seriously imagined walking away from it.