Chapter 8
Cassian convened the Vale & Vale partners on Friday morning.
Arthur attended remotely despite being retired.
He still owned a substantial nonvoting economic interest.
Several older partners were loyal to him.
Amelia Grant sat beside Cassian.
Rebecca attended as outside counsel.
Cassian placed a four-page authorization on the table.
One partner read the first page and swore.
“What is this?”
“Independent audit.”
“We already have accountants.”
“No.”
Cassian looked around the room.
“We have people who reconcile what we give them. I want investigators who decide what they need.”
Another partner frowned.
“Scope?”
“Client trust accounts. Family reimbursements. Legacy case-development expenses. Signature access. Related-party vendors. The Holloway support channel.”
The room changed.
One senior lawyer named Paul Wynn shook his head.
“You cannot open historical client files indiscriminately.”
“Privilege stays protected.”
“To whom?”
“Independent ethics counsel under privilege first. Anything legally reportable follows reporting rules.”
Paul stared.
“You’re volunteering us for regulatory exposure.”
“Yes.”
Arthur’s face appeared on the screen.
“Cassian.”
Cassian looked toward him.
“Do not do this emotionally.”
“I’m not.”
“You are risking a forty-year firm because a teenager embarrassed you.”
Cassian’s voice stayed flat.
“My son was locked inside a locker.”
Arthur responded:
“And that is terrible. It is not a reason to hand prosecutors and bar counsel every accounting mistake Vale & Vale has ever made.”
Cassian looked at him.
“The bar already has documents from inside our system.”
Silence.
“If we don’t know what’s real, we don’t know what we’re defending.”
Arthur leaned closer to the camera.
“You could lose your license.”
“Yes.”
“Partners could lose theirs.”
“Yes.”
“Clients could sue.”
“Yes.”
“People could go to prison.”
Cassian held his father’s gaze.
“If someone stole client money, they should be worried about that before they worry about the audit.”
Arthur stopped speaking.
Cassian signed.
Then he made the second decision.
He voluntarily stepped aside from managing partner duties until outside counsel completed the first phase.
No one had ordered him to.
His professional license remained active.
He could keep representing clients.
But he surrendered control of the firm investigation.
Amelia became interim managing partner.
A three-member independent ethics committee received access.
The decision was nearly impossible to reverse without looking like obstruction.
Noah heard about it that evening from a television report.
“Are you in trouble?”
Cassian turned off the screen.
“Maybe.”
“Did you do bad?”
“I don’t know everything my firm did.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Cassian looked at him.
“No. I did not know about Jace or those payments.”
Noah thought.
“Then why can you be in trouble?”
Because adults signed documents.
Because powerful people benefited from systems they did not inspect.
Because ignorance did not always erase responsibility.
Cassian simplified.
“Sometimes you’re responsible for checking things even if you didn’t create the problem.”
Noah looked toward him.
“Like Dean should’ve checked Jace?”
Cassian paused.
“Yes.”
The child had understood faster than half the partnership.
Within four days, the audit found its first major irregularity.
The Holloway support account was not simply overfunded.
More than two million dollars had been routed through three consulting companies connected to Arthur Vale.
One belonged to an old investigator.
One to a retired firm administrator.
May you like
The third had no obvious business at all.
And every annual reimbursement had been approved with Cassian’s stored signature.
