Chapter 18 - What a Son Can Lose

The Ward Development board met that evening. Adrian attended without his father's permission, carrying the inspection reports he'd commissioned before the wedding and the records of repairs he had approved.

"I signed budgets," he admitted. "I trusted the progress reports. I should have visited the property and checked for myself. That's on me."

A board member leaned forward. "Are you saying your father falsified those reports?"

"I'm saying someone did, and I want an independent audit to find out who."

Preston sat at the opposite end of the table with his hands folded.

"My son is grieving," he said. "He has been misled by an unstable woman and an ambitious attorney."

Adrian stared at him. "Her name is Lena. She's your former wife. She's my mother."

"Whatever you choose to believe."

Adrian put Nora's recording on the conference speaker. Preston's own voice admitted he had lied about Lena to keep her from his son.

The room went still.

"This isn't about whether you like her," Adrian said. "It's about whether any of us can trust the information we've been given."

The board voted to commission a forensic audit and remove Preston temporarily from operational control. Adrian offered to step away from his own executive role while the audit examined his signatures too.

"I won't ask anyone to believe I'm innocent just because I'm the founder's son," he said.

Outside, Celia waited beside the elevator. "I gave Brooks the account information. Owen says he'll claim I did it all."

"Then let the evidence speak," Adrian replied.

"Do you hate me?"

"I don't have room in my life for that. But I can't marry you."

She nodded, tears shining in her eyes, and stepped aside.

At home, Ivy was asleep with her head against Lena's shoulder. Adrian covered them with a blanket and sat on the floor nearby.

The phone rang again. Brooks had news.

"We've connected the diverted relief funds to a current project," she said. "The account didn't close after the fire. It's still being used."

Adrian felt cold.

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"Which project?"

"The new children's center your company is opening next month."