"My brother shattered my knee with a tire iron after I told his fiancée he had secretly been married to another woman for five years. My mother actually applauded while I lay screaming on the garage floor and told me, “You brought this on yourself.” I thought exposing Austin's marriage had already uncovered our family's ugliest secret—until a nurse at the hospital asked me one question that opened the door to something far worse.

By five o'clock the next morning, Detective Vance stepped into my private room on the orthopedic surgery ward. The emergency surgery on my knee had taken four hours; two titanium plates and six screws were now holding my shattered joint together.

"Ms. Wellman," Detective Vance said, pulling a vinyl chair up to my bedside. "We arrested your brother two hours ago at a hotel near San Diego International Airport. He had a packed suitcase and three thousand dollars in cash in his glove compartment."

Relief washed over me, heavy and warm. "Is he in jail?"

"He's currently booked on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and domestic battery," Vance confirmed. "Your mother is outside right now trying to post his bail, but the judge placed a temporary hold on him."

"Detective," I said, leaning forward despite the blinding pain in my hip and leg. "You need to pull his phone and his computer records immediately. The tire iron wasn't just about his wedding."

Vance raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

I reached for my hospital-issued tablet on the rolling tray. Using my employee credentials, I logged into the secure employee portal of the hospital network.

Because I was a senior forensic auditor, my master access overrides were still active.

I pulled up the audit logs Sarah had shown me in the ER.

"Look at this," I said, handing Vance the screen. "Over the past three years, over four million dollars in uncollected insurance reimbursements have been redirected from deceased hospice patients into a shell company called Apex Care Management."

Vance frowned, staring at the financial flowcharts. "And your brother is tied to this company?"

"His name is listed on the electronic approval stamps," I replied, pointing to the code. "Apex Care Management is receiving wire transfers authorized by Austin's fake user ID. He was stealing from dead people's medical estates, Detective."

Vance took out his phone and took photos of the screen.