Funerals.
Hospital visits.
Payroll emergencies.
They weren’t employees to me.
They were the reason I stayed.
At 7:30, Margaret Chen, our family attorney, entered the conference room carrying three leather binders.
“Happy birthday,” she said.
“I wish the circumstances were better.”
“So do I.”
She placed the first binder in front of me.
“The trust officially terminated at midnight.”
“The transfer documents?”
She smiled faintly.
“Already recorded.”
“And the bank?”
“They’ve been notified of the governance change.”
I nodded.
“The forged guarantee?”
Margaret opened another binder.
“We completed the handwriting comparison.”
Several enlarged signatures covered the pages.
Mine.
