Chapter 10 - THE MAN FOLLOWING MY FATHER
Elias noticed the gray sedan before police did.
It appeared outside his home three nights in a row.
Then near the courthouse.
Then outside the grocery store.
He documented the plate.
Called local police.
Did not call me.
I found out from Dana.
I drove to his house furious.
“You should have told me.”
Elias looked confused.
“You have enough to worry about.”
“That sentence is exactly why we didn’t speak for seven years.”
He stopped.
I continued.
“You don’t get to decide what truth I can handle.”
His expression softened.
“You’re right.”
It was still strange hearing my father say that.
The sedan belonged to Night Glass Investigations.
The company hired by Marcus.
The investigator claimed he was conducting lawful background research.
Police warned him to remain on public property and obey anti-stalking laws.
Dana sought discovery.
Marcus fought it.
Lost again.
Night Glass produced reports.
My father’s movements.
My meetings.
Dana’s home address.
Priya’s husband’s employer.
Even the daycare center Dana’s niece attended.
That changed the atmosphere instantly.
Not illegal by itself in every instance.
But combined with threats?
Combined with the courthouse incident?
Combined with the recorded plan to destroy reputations?
The prosecutor began treating the pattern differently.
Judge Cho ordered Marcus not to use agents to contact, monitor, intimidate, or approach me.
His attorneys called it excessive.
She replied.
“Then your client should have no difficulty complying.”
The midpoint arrived two days later.
Priya uncovered something that made the entire room go silent.
NBH Holdings had borrowed twelve million dollars using assets supposedly owned by me.
The loan documents carried my signature.
But not merely an electronic copy.
A notarized signature.
The notary was Gregory Sloan.
Marcus’s lead divorce attorney.
Dana stared at the page.
“Gregory notarized this?”
“Yes.”
“Were you present?”
I shook my head.
“I’ve never signed anything in front of him.”
Priya pulled another document.
Then another.
Six notarizations.
All Gregory.
All transactions I denied signing.
Dana immediately withdrew from casual communication with Marcus’s firm and filed formal notice.
If Gregory had knowingly notarized false signatures, the case had crossed into potential professional misconduct and fraud.
Marcus’s defense team suddenly had its own problem.
The next morning, Gregory Sloan withdrew as Marcus’s attorney.
Reporters surrounded him outside court.
He refused comment.
By evening, news broke.
State investigators had executed a search warrant at Hale Communities.
Marcus appeared on television leaving headquarters.
For the first time, his tie was crooked.
His face was angry.
A reporter shouted.
“Mr. Hale, did you forge your wife’s signatures?”
He ignored her.
Another asked.
“Did you pay Dr. Stephen Mercer?”
He kept walking.
Then someone shouted.
“Did you threaten Judge Bennett?”
Marcus stopped.
Turned.
And said the sentence that changed public opinion overnight.
“Judge Bennett should worry about his own family before judging mine.”
He realized too late that Elias had never judged his case.
May you like
The public heard something else.
A threat.
