Avery's POV

Richard moved faster than I expected. Maybe because the Vale ledger had finally given us something he could not explain away as grief, gossip or family revenge. Maybe because he knew his time was shrinking.

Either way, by eight the next morning, Bennett

Avery's POV

Mom's outside lawyer kept the package in a bank vault. Of course she did. By this point, I would have been disappointed if the truth had been sitting in an unlocked desk drawer. The lawyer's office verified Dad first.

Then me.

Government ID.

Avery's POV

The Sterling ledger was not one book. It was a system.

Accounts.

Approvals.

Vendor codes.

Archived emails.

Internal routing notes.

Exactly the kind of thing Richard had spent years trusting nobody outside his circle to understand. Now