Auditors discovered that several consulting companies receiving payments shared overlapping ownership information. Richard had approved two vendor agreements, while another carried an electronic signature associated with my office. Rebecca reminded everyone that a digital signature alone couldn’t establish who authorized the payments. We needed authentication records before reaching conclusions.

Then Daniel called. Vanessa had sent him a photograph identifying me as the company’s founder and chairwoman. He was stunned that I had kept such an enormous secret. I explained that I wanted him to build his own life without being judged by my wealth. But our conversation took a frightening turn when Daniel revealed that Richard had contacted him asking about Thomas’s old laptop. Daniel believed it was inside a storage unit his father had rented before dying. Vanessa had visited that unit three months earlier, asked about old company records, and possessed a copied key. I immediately contacted Rebecca and arranged for investigators to preserve anything relevant.