Chapter 14 - The Paper She Signed
Claire remembered the night.
Ethan had entered the kitchen carrying a stack of insurance documents.
He said their homeowners policy needed renewal.
Claire had been helping Lily with a puzzle.
She signed where he indicated without reading every page.
She trusted him.
Jonathan compared the signature.
It matched exactly.
The loan document had been assembled using a scanned signature page from the insurance packet.
But someone needed the original paperwork.
Claire confronted Ethan.
His face collapsed when she described it.
“I gave the insurance documents to Victor.”
“Why?”
“He said his company could negotiate a lower premium across several properties.”
Claire laughed without humor.
“You handed him my signature.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You never know.”
Ethan flinched.
That sentence landed harder than the cake ever had.
Then Claire asked.
“Victor told me to ask you whose signature was on the transfer document.”
Ethan looked confused.
“The fake one?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know.”
Claire studied him.
Then Margaret entered.
Her expression told Claire she did know.
“What?”
Claire demanded.
Margaret sat down.
“The signature came from a power-of-attorney document.”
Claire frowned.
“I never gave Ethan power of attorney.”
“No.”
Margaret looked at her son.
“You gave it to me.”
Ethan stared at his mother.
“When?”
“When you were in the hospital three years ago.”
Claire remembered.
Lily had been born prematurely.
Claire spent several days recovering from complications.
Margaret helped with paperwork.
One hospital document had authorized Margaret to handle several temporary insurance matters.
Margaret had secretly scanned Claire’s signature.
Claire felt physically ill.
“You kept it for three years.”
Margaret nodded.
“Yes.”
Ethan stood.
“You told me you destroyed everything after the insurance issue.”
“I lied.”
“Again.”
Margaret looked at him.
“I was angry.”
“At Claire?”
“At her father.”
Ethan slammed his hand against the table.
“He was dead.”
Margaret flinched.
“You poisoned my marriage because you couldn’t let go of a dead man.”
Her voice broke.
“I know.”
“No.”
Ethan pointed toward Claire.
“You don’t know.”
“I defended you while you dumped food on my daughter.”
“I almost lost my family because I spent my whole life believing your lies.”
Margaret began crying.
Ethan did not stop.
“You made me hate a man who showed you mercy.”
“You made me approach Claire for revenge.”
“And when I actually loved her, you found another way to use us.”
Claire watched silently.
For the first time, Ethan was confronting the person he had protected his entire life.
But it came far too late.
Then Jonathan entered with urgent news.
Victor had disappeared from police surveillance.
Worse, someone had broken into Jonathan’s office.
The safe containing the original forged documents had been opened.
Nothing else was taken.
Only evidence connected to Northstar.
Daniel checked security footage.
The intruder wore a hood.
But when the person turned, Claire recognized the face.
Rebecca.
May you like
Her closest friend.
The woman currently trusted with Lily.
