Chương 4
“Not that one.”
“No.”
Vanessa whispered his name.
Daniel ignored her.
“Did you forge it?”
Eric glanced toward the windows.
Rain ran down the glass in gray lines.
“Did you forge my signature?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“That usually means yes.”
“It means the underlying authorization is valid.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What authorization?”
Eric looked toward Vanessa again.
Daniel saw the answer before either of them spoke.
His mouth went dry.
“The power of attorney.”
Vanessa’s shoulders lowered.
Daniel had signed a limited power of attorney three weeks earlier because he was leaving for a honeymoon and wanted routine corporate filings handled while he was away.
His attorney had sent it for review.
Eric had revised it.
Vanessa had brought the final copy home.
Daniel had signed it at the kitchen counter while Mia complained that the pasta water was boiling over.
He could see the page.
He could see Vanessa’s hand resting near the signature line.
He could hear her saying, You trust your own general counsel, don’t you?
He had signed without reading the revised language.
Daniel pressed two fingers against his forehead.
“What did you change?”
Eric answered carefully.
“Nothing outside the authority you granted.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“You granted broad transactional authority.”
“I granted authority for routine operations.”
“The language doesn’t say routine.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“You knew.”
She shook her head.
“Not all of it.”
“Which part did you know?”
“That there was going to be a restructuring.”
“A restructuring.”
“I was told it protected you.”
Eric closed his eyes briefly.
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You said it was defensive.”
“It was.”
“Against what?”
“Against Daniel.”
The room seemed to contract.
Daniel stared at him.
Eric continued before Vanessa could speak.
“You were going to sell.”
Daniel said nothing.
Eric’s voice gained force.
“Don’t pretend you weren’t.”
“I wasn’t pretending anything.”
“You met with Marston Capital twice.”
“Because they approached us.”
“You had draft terms.”
“I rejected them.”
“After entertaining them for six weeks.”
“Because that’s my job.”
“No.”
Eric’s face tightened.
“That’s the problem.”
Daniel took another step.
“You don’t get to tell me what my job is.”
“I built that company with you.”
“You worked there.”
“I built it.”
“You were paid extremely well to build it.”
Eric flinched.
The movement was small but genuine.
Daniel saw something beneath the calculation then.
Resentment.
Old and practiced.
Eric lowered the papers slightly.
“My name is on nothing.”
“Your name is on half the major deals we closed.”
“Your name is on the building.”
“Because I founded the company.”
“With your father’s money.”
There was a small silence.
Daniel’s brother looked away.
That one landed because it was true.
Their father had put up the first three hundred thousand dollars.
Daniel had spent years pretending the distinction did not bother him.
Eric knew it did.
“That still doesn’t make forgery legal,” Daniel said.
Eric gave a tired smile.
“No.”
Finally, something honest.
Daniel looked back at Vanessa.
“How did you fit into this?”
She did not answer.
Thomas did.
“She needed money.”
Vanessa turned sharply.
“Shut up.”
Thomas kept his eyes on Daniel.
“She has always needed more money than she has.”
“Thomas.”
“She called me four months ago.”
Vanessa went rigid.
Daniel felt the floor tilt beneath him.
“Why?”
Thomas hesitated.
Then he looked at her.
“To ask if I still had our original certificate.”
Mia made a small sound behind Daniel.
Vanessa’s face changed.
Not anger this time.
Fear.
Daniel spoke quietly.
“What did you tell him?”
Thomas looked at Vanessa for another second.
“I told her I did.”
Daniel’s gaze returned to the dark-red folder in Mia’s hands.
A copy in Vanessa’s desk.
An original with Thomas.
A wedding scheduled anyway.
The shape of the thing was becoming visible, and it was worse than chaos.
It had planning inside it.
“Vanessa,” Daniel said, “why did you need the certificate?”
Vanessa looked at Thomas as though he had dragged something private into daylight with his bare hands.
“I needed to know whether it still existed.”
Thomas gave a small, disbelieving shake of his head.
“That isn’t what you asked me.”
Daniel watched Vanessa’s fingers press into the satin at her waist.
“What did she ask?”
Thomas hesitated.
Vanessa stepped toward him.
“Don’t do this.”
“You brought me here.”
“I did not.”
“You sent me a photograph of the invitation.”
Her face emptied.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
Vanessa turned toward Eric.
Eric’s expression did not change, but his silence did.
Daniel saw that too.
Thomas continued.
“She sent it from a number I didn’t recognize.”
“You’re lying.”
Thomas pulled a phone from his coat pocket.
“I still have it.”
“Don’t.”
He looked at Daniel.
“She asked if I intended to interfere.”
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
Her chin lifted a fraction.
“What did you say?”
Thomas answered.
“I said I didn’t know what she meant.”
“And then?”
“She told me if I cared about her at all, I’d destroy the certificate and forget her name.”
A brittle laugh escaped Vanessa.
“Oh, please.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened.
“You also said if I ever wanted the money back, I should stay quiet.”
That changed the room again.
Even Eric looked at her.
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“What money?”
Vanessa stared at Thomas.
“Do not.”
Thomas looked tired enough to ignore her.
“Forty-eight thousand dollars.”
Daniel blinked.
“For what?”
“For keeping her business alive after we separated.”
Vanessa’s face reddened.
“That was marital debt.”
“No.”
“It was.”
“You took it after you moved out.”
“To pay vendors.”
“You told me it was for payroll.”
“It was partly payroll.”
Thomas laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You always did that.”
Daniel glanced at him.
“Did what?”
“Changed the category after the fact.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“You don’t get to stand there and act righteous.”
“I’m not.”
Thomas’s voice remained low.
“I lent you money because you were drowning.”
“You lent me money because you liked being needed.”
May you like
His expression flickered.
She saw she had hit him and went farther.
