“Did you know he offered to buy it?”
“No.”
“Did you know he serviced it?”
“Yes.”
There.
Katherine leaned forward.
“You told me you didn't know whether my father used Mason's shop.”
Adrian hesitated.
“Perhaps I forgot.”
“About the only car my father cared about?”
“Katherine—”
“Did you know about the key?”
Silence.
Daniel watched.
Outside counsel said nothing.
Adrian's eyes moved to Katherine's hands.
That was answer enough.
She felt sick.
“You knew.”
He exhaled.
“Robert told me he kept backup records.”
“Where?”
“He wouldn't say.”
“So you searched his office.”
“No.”
“His house?”
“No.”
“The Ferrari?”
Adrian stood.
Daniel immediately said:
“Sit.”
Adrian laughed.
“You're not law enforcement.”
“No.”
“But you are still in a privileged corporate investigation.”
Adrian remained standing.
Katherine looked at him.
“Did Mason search my father's car?”
Adrian's silence lasted too long.
She repeated.
“Did he?”
“Yes.”
The word landed softly.
Katherine's throat tightened.
“Why?”
“To find whatever Robert had hidden.”
“And when he couldn't?”
Adrian looked away.
Katherine continued:
“He offered to buy it.”
“Yes.”
“When I refused, he sabotaged it.”
“I didn't tell him to.”
“Did you know?”
Silence.
“Adrian.”
“I knew he was making the car difficult.”
Katherine almost stood.
Daniel touched the table once.
A subtle warning.
Stay.
She remained seated.
“You let someone deliberately damage my father's Ferrari to pressure me into selling it.”
Adrian's voice sharpened.
“It was a machine.”
Katherine stared.
He continued:
“Robert was dead.”
“The car was worth millions.”
“You had no emotional need to keep it except because he told you to.”
Katherine felt something inside her go completely cold.
“You don't get to decide which grief is efficient.”
Adrian looked away.
Daniel resumed.
“Did the sabotage relate to the financial records?”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Everyone froze.
He knew he had crossed.
Maybe he was tired.
Maybe he wanted it over.
He sat again.
“Robert discovered money being moved through supplier networks.”
“Were you taking it?”
“Not initially.”
Katherine's eyes narrowed.
“Initially.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“It began as off-book reserves.”
“For acquisitions.”
“Payments that couldn't be announced before deals closed.”
“Robert knew?”
“At first.”
That changed things.
Katherine looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked equally surprised.
Adrian continued:
“Your father approved structures he later decided were too risky.”
“When regulators tightened oversight, he wanted everything unwound.”
“Mason and I had already expanded them.”
“To steal.”
“To profit.”
Adrian corrected.
Katherine almost laughed.
“That's your distinction?”