He had.
Of course he had.
Paulie had years.
Khloe had numbers.
Vincent rubbed his eyes.
Then noticed she was still standing barefoot.
“Sit.”
She hesitated.
“Khloe.”
She sat on the edge of the bed.
Vincent remained in the chair.
Distance.
Space.
He sensed she needed both.
“Start from the beginning.”
Khloe inhaled.
Then told him.
Five days earlier, Khloe had discovered a discrepancy in the winter fund while reconciling cattle purchase invoices.
Ten thousand dollars left the account.
No matching livestock receipt.
No feed contract.
No payroll expense.
She assumed clerical error.
That happened.
Even careful systems developed gaps when enough men wrote numbers with muddy hands.
She traced the payment.
Escrow account.
Then another company.
Costa Holdings.
Khloe had seen the name before.
Old corporate stationery remained in storage.
But Vincent had dissolved the company after his father’s death.
The ranch now operated under Costa Land and Cattle.
The name should have been dead.
Khloe checked county filings.
A new Costa Holdings had appeared eighteen months earlier.
Registered agent listed only as Western Territorial Services.
No familiar names.
Then old payments appeared.
Eight hundred dollars.
Twelve hundred.
Five hundred.
Never enough to trigger immediate concern.
Thirty-eight thousand total.
Maybe more.
Khloe began checking paper trails.
That was when Samuel Reed’s old comments returned to her.
Samuel had worked accounts payable.
Not as carefully as Khloe.
But he noticed missing feed invoices.
Six months earlier he told her something was wrong.
Then he disappeared.
Paulie said Samuel had stolen petty cash and run.
Khloe believed him.
Everyone believed Paulie.
Why wouldn’t they?
Nine years.
Samuel had nine months.
Trust often followed time instead of evidence.
Khloe had learned better.
So she checked.
No police report against Samuel.
No signed termination.
No payroll deduction.
No accounting entry for missing cash.
Only an unsigned note written by Paulie.
EMPLOYEE LEFT WITHOUT NOTICE.
Vincent listened without interruption.
His anger became quiet.
Khloe continued.
Yesterday Paulie handed her the land transfer file and instructed her to prepare it for Vincent’s signature.
She noticed the false corporate number.
Then the forged preliminary signature.
Then she understood.
If Vincent signed the final deed tomorrow, thousands of acres of new grazing land would legally move not to his ranch but to a company merely carrying his surname.
The theft would look legitimate.
Vincent asked:
“Who owns that company?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have a guess.”
Khloe hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
“Paulie.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
There it was.
The word he had resisted.
Not a possibility.
A shape.
Paulie.
He stood.
Walked toward the hearth.
The room had cooled.
Fire nearly dead.
He added wood.
Khloe watched him.
“Are you angry with me?”
Vincent turned.
“Why would I be?”
“I went through accounts that weren’t assigned to me.”
“You found thirty-eight thousand missing.”
“I also copied documents.”
“Good.”
Her expression surprised him.
“You mean that?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you might…”
“What?”
“Think I was spying.”
Vincent looked at her carefully.
“Were you?”
She almost laughed.
“No.”
“Then we’re fine.”
Khloe looked toward the floor.
Vincent understood something.
She expected punishment for being useful beyond permission.
Someone had trained that into her too.
He disliked another unknown person.
Perhaps the same one.
“Khloe.”
She looked up.