Chapter 3 - The Signature I Never Gave
Dante’s car had blacked-out windows and no music.
I sat across from him with my hands locked together.
Chicago disappeared behind rain-streaked glass.
Dante waited until the ballroom was far behind us.
“What did Nolan mean?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Think.”
His voice was firm, not cruel.
I remembered papers Nolan had brought home six months earlier.
He had said they were insurance documents.
He had pointed at the signature lines while making dinner.
I had been exhausted.
I signed two pages.
But there had been another packet.
“I signed insurance paperwork.”
“When?”
“February.”
Dante looked toward Marco.
“Have Isabella check February filings under Evelyn Carter.”
I stared at him.
“You can do that?”
“I can ask.”
His answer sounded deliberately careful.
Ten minutes later, Marco’s phone vibrated.
He read the screen.
Then his jaw tightened.
“Three corporations.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Marco turned the phone toward Dante.
“Carter Development Holdings.”
“EC Urban Renewal.”
“And Lakeshore Community Partners.”
I shook my head.
“I’ve never heard of any of them.”
Dante’s eyes darkened.
“According to Illinois filings, you’re an authorized officer in all three.”
The car suddenly felt too small.
“What do they do?”
Marco hesitated.
Dante noticed.
“Say it.”
“Property acquisition.”
I remembered Nolan talking about investment opportunities.
Old apartment buildings.
Foreclosures.
Neighborhood redevelopment.
He always said his company purchased distressed buildings and renovated them.
But recently tenants had protested outside one of his offices.
Nolan called them professional agitators.
Dante watched me putting the pieces together.
“What else?”
Marco scrolled.
“One company received forty-two million dollars in financing nine weeks ago.”
I stopped breathing.
“In my name?”
“Partly.”
I looked at Dante.
“I don’t have forty-two million dollars.”
“No.”
His eyes stayed on mine.
“But someone may have wanted lenders to believe you controlled something valuable enough to guarantee it.”
My phone suddenly rang.
Nolan.
I rejected the call.
It rang again.
Then a text appeared.
COME HOME BEFORE YOU MAKE THIS WORSE.
Another followed.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU JUST EMBARRASSED.
Dante saw my expression.
“May I?”
I handed him the phone.
He read the messages.
Then another arrived.
THE CONTRACT BECOMES YOUR PROBLEM IF I GO DOWN.
Dante handed the phone back.
“What contract?”
“I don’t know.”
For the first time that night, Dante looked genuinely concerned.
Then Marco received another message.
He read it twice.
“Boss.”
Dante looked over.
Marco’s voice lowered.
“One of those companies bought the building on West Fulton.”
Dante went completely still.
I had never heard the address.
But clearly he had.
“What is West Fulton?” I asked.
Dante looked out the window.
“A property men have died trying to acquire.”
Then he faced me again.
May you like
“And according to the state of Illinois, Evelyn, you bought it three weeks ago.”
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