Chapter 5 - THE SIGNATURE THAT WASN'T MINE
Dominic sent the documents to my phone.
I knew immediately.
The signature was almost perfect.
Almost.
The final stroke in my last name curved upward.
I always curved it down.
My father taught me that signature when I was sixteen.
No one noticed the difference unless they had seen me sign thousands of pages.
I had.
“That isn’t mine.”
Brandon exhaled.
“Alyssa.”
“You forged my signature.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
He looked toward the service corridor where Tessa had disappeared.
Convenient.
I called Caleb.
“Find Tessa.”
“We have teams checking the building.”
“Do not let her leave.”
Brandon grabbed my phone.
I pulled it back.
“Stop acting like you own everyone.”
I stared at him.
“I don’t.”
“That’s your problem.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You were secretly born into a dynasty.”
“You hid money.”
“You hid connections.”
“You let me think I built everything.”
“I did not make you cheat.”
“No.”
“But you made me feel small.”
The sentence surprised me.
“So you built another family?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
He looked toward the dark windows.
“Every room I entered, someone knew more than I did.”
“Every deal required someone else’s approval.”
“I wanted something that was mine.”
I stared at him.
“Hale Strategic Systems was yours.”
“Until tonight.”
“No.”
“Until you forged my shares.”
His jaw tightened.
Claire stepped forward.
“You told me Alyssa surrendered those shares after your separation.”
Brandon turned toward her.
“We were going to separate.”
“You lived with her.”
“It was complicated.”
I laughed.
“No.”
“You made it complicated because simple truth would have cost you money.”
Victor Harrington’s lawyers were now speaking with Daniel Pike, one of Dominic’s attorneys who had entered the ballroom.
Dominic had apparently deployed half the Eastern Seaboard.
Daniel approached me.
“We need to preserve the corporate servers.”
“Do it.”
Brandon blocked him.
“You do not have authority.”
Daniel smiled.
“Actually, your lender does.”
Nathaniel had already triggered a contractual audit clause.
Brandon looked around.
His gala was turning into an investigation.
Then Caleb returned.
“No Tessa.”
“Vehicle?”
“Still in the garage.”
“Phone?”
“Offline.”
“Building cameras?”
“Service elevator to level forty-six.”
I frowned.
“There is no public floor forty-six.”
Caleb looked at Brandon.
“Executive records.”
Brandon’s face changed.
I immediately understood.
“She’s destroying something.”
Brandon ran.
Caleb followed.
So did I.
We reached the executive records floor four minutes later.
Smoke was already coming from the archive room.
The fire alarm began screaming.
Employees evacuated.
Caleb forced the door.
Sprinklers activated.
Inside, Tessa stood beside a metal waste bin.
Flames climbed from shredded documents.
Brandon shouted.
“Tessa!”
She turned.
Her mascara had run.
Her hands shook.
“You said we were protected.”
Brandon stopped.
“What did you burn?”
She laughed hysterically.
“Everything you told me to.”
I stared at him.
Brandon whispered.
“No.”
Tessa reached into her handbag.
Then pulled out a flash drive.
“But not this.”
May you like
She looked at me.
“If I’m going down, Alyssa, your husband is coming with me.”
