Grace nodded.
"Potentially, with proper development, validation, and training."
She paused.
"But the model assumes the savings now and treats the validation as something we'll complete later."
The room became quiet.
Then she added.
"That's not a responsible basis for valuing the integration."
Wei looked toward Nia.
For a moment, she could almost hear Lorraine's voice.
Who gets hurt when this system stops working?
This time, the question wasn't dismissed.
The board requested a revised analysis.
The document review reached a turning point when Devon Price was formally interviewed by the independent firm.
He explained how the disputed waiver entered the acquisition repository.
He provided the technical observations behind his memorandum and identified the personnel involved in handling the file.
The reviewers compared his account with preserved records and witness statements.
They established that a member of Elliot's team had assembled the version of the waiver used in the transaction.
The employee acknowledged preparing the file from materials supplied by a supervisor.
He maintained that he'd been told the underlying consent was already valid and that he was creating a clean electronic copy for the data room.
That explanation required examination.
The reviewers traced the older document from which the signature appeared to have originated.
It was a legitimate agreement Lorraine signed years before her illness.
The relevant signature image closely matched the one on the disputed waiver.
Further evidence showed that the purported waiver wasn't an authentic contemporaneous instrument executed by Lorraine during her final hospitalization.
The independent report concluded that the acquisition file contained a materially unreliable document that should not have been represented as a valid consent.
It also identified deficiencies in the internal approval process.
Responsibility for creating, approving, and relying on the document required further investigation.
But the central question was no longer open.
The signature on page seventeen could not support the transaction as represented.
Nia read the conclusion three times.
Then she placed the report beside Lorraine's photograph.
For several seconds, she felt no triumph.
Only grief.
Because the investigation had finally established something she'd known in her heart from the beginning.
Her mother hadn't signed away the protections during those final days.
Someone had made it appear that she did.
Margaret presented the report to Asterion's independent directors.
Victor attended.
So did Elliot.
The meeting lasted nearly four hours.
The directors asked detailed questions about the document's origin, the due-diligence process, and management's awareness of the concerns.
Margaret explained when she first received notice of the challenge and what steps she'd taken afterward.
Devon's memorandum was reviewed.