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He is correct.

He just hasn't understood yet that Elena is the weapon.

“What is this?” he asks.

I gesture toward the chair across from her. “Sit.”

Karras studies me long enough to make it clear he dislikes the order, then lowers himself into the chair anyway. That interests me. Dimitris Karras has served men who ruled countries without officially governing them. He has watched kings inherit empires and watched enemies vanish between one banking day and the next. Men like him learn early which commands are worth challenging.

Elena folds her hands in front of her. “How long have you worked at Asterion?”

Karras looks toward me first. I give him nothing.

“Forty-eight years.”

“And how long have you handled Crown business?”

The question changes him again. Not enough for anyone without practice to notice, but enough.

“That is a broad description.”

“It wasn’t a complicated question.”

His mouth hardens. “Since before you were born.”

“Convenient. Then you’ll remember the legacy transaction processing fee.”

For the first time since he entered, Karras becomes completely still. Elena sees it, and so do I.

“LTP-4,” she says.

Karras leans back. “A historical administrative charge.”

“Discontinued eleven years ago.”

“Then I’m not sure why we’re discussing it.”

“Because you kept charging it.”

His eyes flick toward the papers, but he doesn't reach for them. Elena opens the first folder and slides one sheet across the table.

“March seventeenth, nine years ago. Thirty-two-million-euro settlement. Asterion processes the transaction. LTP-4 is applied at ten thirty-four. Seven minutes later, a related amount moves through a corporate intermediary attached to Helios Advisory.”

Karras doesn't touch the paper.

Elena places another beside it. “Six months later. Different company. Different jurisdiction. Same obsolete fee. Seven minutes later, another transfer. Two years after that, same pattern again.”

Karras finally looks down. That is his first real mistake.

“Should I keep going?” Elena asks.

“This proves nothing.”

“Good. I was worried we’d be finished too quickly.”

Her tone is dry enough to cut glass. Karras looks at me again, clearly expecting interruption, but I remain where I am, and that makes him uncomfortable.

Good.