Daniel gripped the phone.
"You told me the money would be replaced."
"And it would have been if you hadn't started panicking."
"You said the investment was temporary!"
"Daniel, listen carefully. We are both involved in this. If you go down, I go down. So don't suddenly decide to become an honest man when things get difficult."
The call ended.
Daniel slowly lowered his phone.
He walked to the window and looked down at the city streets.
People hurried home from work. Cars moved through the intersections. Somewhere, a child laughed.
The ordinary world continued as though nothing had happened.
But Daniel knew that his life was about to change.
He had two choices.
Tell the truth and accept the consequences.
Or continue lying and risk losing everything.
For the first time in years, he wished his father were there to tell him what to do.
The following morning, Richard arrived at his office before sunrise.
He had barely slept.
The discovery of Daniel's signature had shaken him more deeply than the accusations Marcus had made the previous evening.
Money could be recovered.
Businesses could be rebuilt.
Reputations could sometimes be restored.
But the possibility that his own son had participated in a scheme that endangered an entire care facility was something Richard could barely comprehend.
He sat behind his desk and looked at a photograph of Daniel as a child.
In the picture, Daniel was eight years old, standing beside his father in a garden. His face was covered in dirt, and he was holding a small wooden birdhouse they had built together.
Richard remembered that afternoon clearly.
Daniel had struggled to hammer the nails straight. After several failed attempts, he had thrown the hammer onto the grass.
"I'm terrible at everything," he had said.
Richard had knelt beside him.
"You're not terrible at everything. You're learning something difficult."
"But I can't do it."
"Not yet."
Daniel had looked at him.
Richard smiled.
"The important thing isn't whether you get it right the first time. It's what you do when you make a mistake."
Those words had stayed with Richard for years.
Now he wondered whether he had failed to teach his son their meaning.
A knock sounded at the door.
Emily entered carrying two cups of coffee.
"You haven't gone home, have you?" she asked.
Richard attempted a smile.
"I was here early."
"That's not what I asked."
He accepted the coffee.
"Thank you."
Emily sat across from him.
"I know this is difficult."
Richard looked at the photograph.
"He's my son."
"I know."
"If he's involved, I have to let the investigation continue."
Emily nodded.
"Yes."
"But every part of me wants to believe there's another explanation."
"That's understandable."
Richard turned the photograph facedown.
"I spent years telling him that character matters more than success. I thought he understood."
Emily was quiet for a moment.
"Sometimes people understand the right thing and still make the wrong choice."
Richard looked at her.
"Do you believe people can change?"
"Yes," she answered. "But they have to be willing to face what they've done first."
He considered her words.
Then he reached for the telephone.
"Please arrange a meeting with the investigator. And ask our legal team to prepare the documents for the investors."
Emily stood.
"Anything else?"
Richard hesitated.
"Yes. Find out where Daniel is."
Daniel arrived at his father's office at eleven fifteen.
He had spent the morning rehearsing what he intended to say.
He would explain the financial pressure. He would insist that he had never intended to steal anything. He would remind Richard of the years he had felt overlooked.
Perhaps, if he explained himself carefully enough, his father would understand.
But when Daniel entered the office and saw the documents arranged across the desk, every prepared sentence disappeared.
Richard sat behind the desk.
Emily stood near the window.
"Sit down, Daniel," Richard said.
Daniel remained standing.
"I'd rather stand."
"All right."
For a moment, father and son simply looked at each other.
Then Richard lifted the document bearing Daniel's signature.
"Did you authorize this transfer?"
Daniel swallowed.
"I was involved in the project finances."
"That isn't what I asked."
Daniel looked toward the window.
"I signed some documents."
"Did you know that the money was being transferred to an unverified company?"
Daniel hesitated.
"I believed the company was legitimate."
"Did you verify that?"
"No."
"Did you receive any personal benefit from the transactions?"
Daniel's face tightened.
"Why are you interrogating me like this?"
Richard placed the document on the desk.