I had kept everything. In a folder labeled “Noise,” I found the email chain my attorney had traced years earlier. The anonymous sender used a burner account, but the recovery number was tied to a family plan Theo once managed. Back then, I refused to believe one of them could do that. I told myself the evidence was circumstantial because the alternative was unbearable.
Now I knew better.
I took a screenshot of the report and dropped it into the family chat.
Me: Which one of you sent this to Meridian Ventures before my Series B?
No one replied.
Then Adrian called.
I answered on speaker, standing in my kitchen, looking out at the skyline I had earned one quarter at a time.
“I’m not calling for them,” he said.
“You already did.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
