Chapter 1 - The Company in My Name
Maya opened the folder on the hood of the black SUV.
The first page carried my full legal name.
Grace Eleanor Carter.
Beneath it was the name of a company I had never seen before.
Carter Meridian Holdings LLC.
I stared at the registration date.
It had been created eleven months earlier.
Two months before I even discovered I was pregnant.
“I never opened this company.”
Maya nodded.
“We know.”
Dad stepped off the porch.
“This is ridiculous.”
Daniel moved between us before he could come any closer.
“Stay where you are, Robert.”
Dad’s face twisted.
“You think you can arrive with a few lawyers and intimidate me?”
Daniel’s father, Charles Whitmore, finally spoke.
“You stole from my company once.”
His voice was frighteningly calm.
“I made the mistake of allowing you to resign quietly instead of prosecuting you.”
Dad’s confidence flickered.
Charles looked at me.
“I will not make that mistake twice.”
Maya turned another page toward me.
Bank statements.
Transfers.
Loans.
Vendor contracts.
Almost four million dollars had moved through Carter Meridian Holdings during the previous ten months.
Every transaction supposedly carried my electronic authorization.
My hands began trembling.
“I didn’t sign any of this.”
“We know that too.”
Daniel crouched slightly so he could look directly at me without forcing me to lift Emma.
“Grace, somebody used your identity.”
Emma stirred against my chest.
I instinctively held her closer.
Mom finally stepped off the porch.
“Robert, tell them.”
Dad turned sharply.
“Go inside, Diane.”
Mom looked terrified.
“Tell them before they find out another way.”
Something in her voice made my stomach drop.
Maya closed the folder.
“Mrs. Carter, is there something you would like to tell us?”
Mom stared at Dad.
Then she stared at me.
Her lips began shaking.
“The company wasn’t supposed to hurt you.”
I felt colder than the November wind.
“What does that mean?”
Dad grabbed Mom’s arm.
“That’s enough.”
Daniel’s security chief moved immediately.
“Take your hand off her.”
Dad released Mom.
Mom covered her face.
“I thought Robert was only protecting the house.”
“What house?”
She slowly looked toward the home behind us.
“The one you grew up in.”
Maya’s expression changed.
She opened another section of the folder.
“Grace, according to county records, that house doesn’t belong to your parents anymore.”
Dad went completely still.
Maya looked directly at me.
May you like
“It belongs to the company registered under your name.”
And suddenly I understood why my father had been so desperate to throw me out before Daniel arrived.
