Chapter 8: The Brother
Daniel.
Max's younger brother.
The one who came to every Christmas and called Lily his favorite person in the world and borrowed Max's tools and never returned them and laughed too loud at his own jokes.
"Daniel knew," I said.
"Daniel helped set it up."
I stared at him.
"What does that mean — helped set it up?"
"The Henderson account was his introduction.
He brought me the client.
When the deal started going sideways, he suggested the bridge structure.
He said it was standard practice, that everyone did it, that it would be cleaned up before anyone looked."
"And you believed him."
"He's my brother."
"He's your brother who handed you a scheme and walked away clean while your name is on every document."
Max's jaw tightened.
"It wasn't like that."
"Then tell me what it was like."
He stood up.
Walked to the window.
Stood there with his back to me.
"Daniel has done this before," he said quietly.
"With other people.
I didn't know that when we started.
I found out in February, when I started looking into why the deal wasn't closing.
There were two other accounts — different clients, different brokers — same structure.
Both of them took the loss.
Daniel walked away."
The room felt very still.
"You found this out in February," I said.
"The same month you moved our money."
"Yes."
"And you didn't go to anyone.
You didn't go to a lawyer.
You didn't tell me."
"I thought if I could just close the gap before the audit, no one would ever need to know."
"Including me."
He turned around.
"I was trying to protect you."
"You were trying to protect yourself." My voice came out harder than I intended.
"And in doing that, you put me, and Lily, and our savings directly in the path of whatever is coming." I stood up.
"Does Daniel know about the audit?"
"Yes.
I told him last week."
"And?"
"He told me to stay calm.
That he had a contact at the firm who could delay it."
"A contact who could delay the audit." I looked at him.
"Max.
Do you hear yourself?"
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds like your brother is asking you to obstruct an audit while he figures out his exit." I picked up my phone.
"I need to call Patricia again."
"Wait—"
"No." I was already dialing.
"This is not a rough patch.
This is not something you fix by waiting.
Daniel has done this before, which means he knows exactly how it ends, and he is not the one whose name is on the documents."
Max crossed the room.
He put his hand on my arm — not grabbing, just resting.
The way he used to when he wanted me to slow down.
"If this goes to investigators," he said, "it won't just be Daniel.
It'll be me too."
"I know."
"I could lose my license."
"I know that too."
His hand dropped.
"Are you going to let that happen?"
I looked at him for a long moment.
The man I'd married.
The man who'd cried at Lily's school play and held my hand in the dark.
"I'm going to tell the truth," I said.
"What happens after that isn't something I control."
I stepped away and raised the phone to my ear.
Patricia answered on the second ring.
"There's a second person involved," I said.
"His brother.
And I think he's been doing this with other accounts."
A pause.
"Don't let Max contact Daniel tonight," she said.
"Can you do that?"
I looked at Max across the kitchen.
"I'll try," I said.
May you like
But when I turned back, Max already had his own phone in his hand.
And he was walking toward the back door.
