Chương 4
Now her legs felt stiff.
She crossed to the hallway.
“Daniel.”
“I'm packing.”
“That sounded expensive.”
He appeared in the doorway holding a stack of shirts.
“You sold it. Why do you care?”
“Because it still belongs to me for another forty-three minutes.”
He stared at her.
Then, despite himself, he laughed.
It was brief and angry and almost real.
“You are unbelievable.”
“I know.”
He walked past her to the garment rack.
Luis's employee began hanging the shirts.
Daniel watched him for several seconds.
Then he said, “Not like that.”
The young man froze.
“They'll crease.”
“Daniel,” Evelyn said.
“What?”
“Hang your own shirts.”
The employee looked relieved.
Daniel yanked a hanger off the rack.
Madison sat on the edge of the white sofa with the document in her lap.
Her phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
Her expression changed.
Daniel noticed.
“Who is it?”
“Nobody.”
“Madison.”
She turned the phone facedown.
Evelyn felt, rather than saw, another shift in the room.
Daniel walked over.
“Who?”
Madison looked up at him.
“My accountant.”
“Why is your accountant texting you?”
“Because I texted her.”
“When?”
“While you were calling Martin.”
Daniel's face changed.
“What did you ask?”
Madison stood.
“Whether the money I wired to Hart Urban Holdings last month was secured by real estate.”
Nobody moved.
Luis quietly backed toward the vestibule.
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
He kept his eyes on Madison.
“I told you exactly what that investment was.”
“You told me it was bridge money secured by your interest in this property.”
“It was.”
Evelyn's voice cut in.
“No.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“You don't know what agreement we had.”
“I know you could not pledge an interest you no longer own.”
“This was before last week.”
Evelyn's stomach tightened.
“How much?”
Madison looked at Daniel.
He said, “Do not answer that.”
Madison's face became very still.
Evelyn had spent years around wealthy people. She knew the difference between someone who had money and someone who wanted the room to think she had money. Madison's jewelry was subtle because subtle jewelry cost more. Her dress had been altered rather than merely purchased in the correct size. Her handbag was not covered in logos. Evelyn had made assumptions anyway.
She disliked discovering vanity in herself.
“How much?” Evelyn asked again.
Madison's voice was quieter.
“Eight hundred thousand.”
Luis disappeared fully into the vestibule.
Daniel said, “It is a legitimate investment.”
Madison looked at him.
“Secured by what?”
“My company has assets.”
“You told me this penthouse was the backstop.”
“It was when we signed.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You pledged your ten percent?”
Daniel did not answer.
“Daniel.”
“I represented my ownership interest.”
“The ten percent you signed away six days ago.”
“I didn't know the transfer would be finalized.”
“You signed a deed.”
“I signed a temporary restructuring document.”
“Martin just told you otherwise.”
“Martin is protecting himself.”
Madison's phone buzzed again.
She picked it up.
Read.
Her lips parted.
“What?”
Daniel moved toward her.
She backed away.
“Don't.”
“What did she say?”
Madison stared at the phone.
Then she looked at Evelyn.
“My accountant says the subscription agreement doesn't list this address.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Because it couldn't.”
Madison turned to him.
“You showed me a separate collateral letter.”
Daniel said nothing.
Her voice became thinner.
“The one with your mother's signature.”
Evelyn felt the room contract around her.
“What letter?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Only for a moment.
That was enough.
Madison looked between them.
“Oh, no.”
Evelyn's mouth had gone dry.
“Show me.”
Daniel said, “Madison, don't.”
She was already opening her email.
“Show me,” Evelyn repeated.
Madison walked toward her.
Daniel stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Evelyn looked at her son.
The calmness left her voice, though the volume did not rise.
“Move.”
“It's not what you think.”
“You don't know what I think.”
“It was a comfort letter.”
“With my signature?”
“You had agreed to support the business.”
“I agreed to consider another loan.”
“You said you wouldn't let the company collapse.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“I know that.”
“Then move.”
For the first time, Daniel looked afraid of her.
Not emotionally.
Practically.
He stepped aside.
Madison handed Evelyn the phone.
The letter was one page.
Hart Urban Holdings letterhead.
A paragraph stated that Evelyn Hart acknowledged Daniel Hart's ownership interest in the penthouse and intended, if necessary, to make funds available sufficient to satisfy certain obligations related to Madison Blake's investment.
At the bottom was Evelyn's name.
Above it sat a digital image of her signature.
Not a forged attempt.
Her actual signature.
Evelyn recognized the loop in the H and the slight upward tail she had developed after breaking her right wrist fifteen years earlier.
The image had been copied from somewhere.
Her fingers went cold.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
Madison's face had lost color.
“Daniel sent it.”
“When?”
“June.”
Evelyn looked at him.
He tried to speak.
She raised one finger.
A precise movement.
He stopped.
“Which document did you take my signature from?”
“It wasn't like that.”
“Which document?”
“You had verbally agreed—”
“Which one?”
Daniel looked toward the windows.
Evelyn knew.
She knew before he said it because there were not many places he could have gotten a clean digital signature.
“The employee hardship loan,” she said.
He did not answer.
Evelyn had signed a letter the previous winter guaranteeing temporary payroll assistance for Hart Urban's employees after a lender withdrew from a project. She had done it because Daniel had called her from his car and said twenty-two people would miss Christmas payroll.
She had told herself she was helping them, not him.
He had saved a digital copy.
Madison whispered, “Jesus.”
Daniel finally looked at his mother.
“You were going to help.”
Evelyn handed the phone back to Madison.
“That is not my signature on that promise.”
“It is your signature.”
“It is an image of my signature.”
“Mom.”
May you like
“Did you make that letter?”
“I drafted it based on what you told me.”
