Three months after the Carter-Hayes investigation became completely public, the world outside had changed in profound ways.Not completely, of course.Not perfectly, by any stretch of the imagination.But enough to make a difference.The Carter Group still existed as an operational entity.The Hayes family name still existed in the corporate records.Both massive companies had somehow survived the punishing wave of government investigations, although neither looked or operated exactly as it had before the collapse.The independent review had methodically exposed years of manipulated financial records, unauthorized executive decisions, hidden backroom agreements, and systemic failures by people who had genuinely believed that protecting their family empires was far more important than telling the bare truth.Naturally, there had been severe consequences.Victoria had formally stepped away from several high-level family responsibilities while the ongoing federal investigation continued