My mother-in-law has always treated every holiday like it was her event, even when it was hosted in my house.

Patricia had told us to let her do the talking.

We sat on one side of the conference table — Patricia, Daniel, and me.

Richard sat across from us with a man named Clifford Brent, who was younger than I expected, with the careful posture of someone trying to project more confidence than he felt.

Carol was not there.

Richard had come alone.

He looked different from Thanksgiving.

The ease was still there, the boardroom bearing, but something underneath it had shifted.

He sat with his hands flat on the table, which I had learned from Patricia was something people did when they wanted to appear open and had decided in advance not to be.

"Thank you for meeting with us," Clifford said.

"Of course," Patricia said.

"My client would like to address the records request directly and clarify a few points about the estate management."

"We're listening," Patricia said.

Richard spoke.

"The transfer to Clearwater Holdings was a legitimate management fee, structured as an equity arrangement at the time of the estate settlement.

Carol was aware of the structure and consented."

"We have the LLC registration," Patricia said.

"Carol is a fifty percent owner.

A management fee paid to an entity co-owned by the beneficiary's family member, without disclosure to the estate's primary heir, is not a standard fee structure.

Mr.

Falk flagged it at the time."

"Falk was not the estate attorney."

"No.

But he was the one asking the right questions." Patricia opened her folder.

"We'd also like to discuss the Clearwater rental property.

Sold in 2019 at three hundred and twelve thousand dollars.

Comparable sales in that zip code that same quarter averaged four hundred and forty thousand.

The buyer was a company called Meridian Property Group." She looked up.

"Meridian Property Group shares a registered agent with Clearwater Holdings."

Clifford put his hand on Richard's arm — a small, quick gesture.

Richard's hands stayed flat on the table.

"That sale was handled at arm's length," Richard said.

"We'd like the documentation," Patricia said.

"All of it.

The appraisal, the buyer correspondence, the closing records."

"That will take time to—"

"We're not in a hurry," Patricia said pleasantly.

"We can wait for discovery."

The word landed the way she intended it to.

Clifford shifted in his chair.

"My client," Clifford said carefully, "is open to discussing a resolution that addresses the family's concerns without the cost and disruption of litigation."

"What kind of resolution?" Daniel asked.

Patricia touched his arm — her version of Clifford's gesture.

But Daniel had already asked it, and Richard was already looking at him.

"A settlement," Richard said.

"A figure that reflects a fair adjustment for any — administrative irregularities — and a mutual release."

"What figure?" Daniel said.

Richard named a number.

It was not a small number.

It was the kind of number designed to feel like generosity and function like a door closing.

Daniel looked at me.

I looked at Patricia.

"We'll need that in writing," Patricia said.

"Along with a full accounting of all transactions from the estate, the LLC, and the property sale.

If the accounting supports the figure, we can discuss it.

If it doesn't—" She closed her folder.

"We proceed."

Richard looked at me for the first time since we'd sat down.

Really looked at me — the way he had at Thanksgiving, that recalibrating look.

"You're the one driving this," he said.

It wasn't a question.

"My husband lost most of his inheritance," I said.

"Someone should drive it."

He held my gaze for a moment.

Then he looked away.

"We'll have the accounting to you by end of week," Clifford said.

The accounting arrived on Thursday.

Patricia called Friday morning.

"It's worse than the number he offered," she said.

"The property sale alone — the differential between sale price and market value, routed through Meridian, which Richard effectively controlled — that's a six-figure discrepancy.

And there are three more transfers to the LLC I want to go through with Gerry before I characterize them."

"What does that mean for the settlement?" I asked.