Elena's POV
"There." I stopped scrolling, my breath catching at the small, unremarkable filing notice glowing on the screen. "Ashwood Capital Partners. First registered filing."
Damian leaned in closer, reading over my shoulder, his jaw tightening as he processed the date printed plainly at the top of the document. "That's nearly nine years ago."
"A full year before my father's fire." My hands had gone unsteady on the keyboard, the timeline I'd spent six months assembling suddenly rearranging itself into something far more precise than I'd ever managed to piece together alone. "Two years before your father's death."
"So the company existed before either tragedy." Damian's voice carried careful, deliberate calm, though I could hear the effort behind it. "That doesn't necessarily mean an
