Chapter 8 - The Price of Family
Ethan insisted he knew nothing about the original trust document.
I believed him.
At least, I wanted to.
But the message had created a distance between us that neither of us knew how to cross.
The following morning, Julia called with an update.
“Diane's attorney has contacted us. She wants to negotiate.”
“Negotiate what?”
“Her continued occupancy of the mansion. She claims the Christmas incident was a misunderstanding.”
I almost laughed.
“Three slaps and an insult toward a child?”
“That's what I told him.”
“What did he say?”
“He wants to review the security footage.”
“Send it.”
An hour later, Diane's attorney withdrew the request for negotiation.
Apparently, the footage was more convincing than his client's version of events.
But Diane wasn't finished.
At noon, a local business blog published an article accusing me of using my investment firm to steal a family home.
It included photographs of the mansion, my company logo, and a photograph of Lily.
I immediately contacted Julia.
“Find out who provided that picture.”
“Already investigating.”
The article disappeared forty minutes later.
But not before Vanessa shared it.
Her caption read:
Some women will destroy an entire family just to get what they want.
I called her.
She answered after several rings.
“Delete it.”
“Claire—”
“Delete the post. And remove Lily's photograph.”
“I didn't take that picture.”
“You shared it.”
Vanessa went quiet.
Then she said, “Mom told me you were trying to ruin us.”
“Your mother assaulted me in front of my child. Your company owes hundreds of thousands of dollars. And someone used Ethan's identity to move money.”
“I didn't forge his signature.”
“Then help us find who did.”
Vanessa started crying.
“Mom has been keeping a second set of books.”
I sat forward.
“What?”
“She told me never to mention it. She said if anyone asked, the renovation payments were legitimate.”
“Where are the books?”
“In her office. Behind the built-in shelves.”
I called Julia.
Within an hour, we had arranged for the appropriate legal representatives to preserve the records under the company's investigation procedures.
The documents revealed a much larger scheme.
Diane had been moving money through Vanessa's company for years.
But the final transfers had gone somewhere else.
A private account held in the name of Michael Bennett.
My father's name.
The man on the phone.
I felt sick.
“Why would Dad receive the money?” Ethan asked.
Robert studied the records.
“Because he was trying to recover it.”
“That doesn't make sense,” I said. “If he had the money, why didn't he contact me?”
Robert looked at the final transaction.
“Because the account was frozen.”
A new message appeared on my phone.
This time it came from my father.
Meet me tomorrow. Alone. I will explain everything.
Before I could respond, Ethan's phone rang.
He listened.
Then his face went completely blank.
“What happened?” I asked.
He lowered the phone.
“Mom has filed a police report.”
“Against whom?”
“Against you.”
“For what?”
He looked at me.
“She claims you stole her identity, forged property documents, and threatened her.”
I stared at him.
Then another notification appeared.
A formal notice from our company's legal department.
Someone had submitted a request to transfer controlling ownership of the Whitmore mansion.
The request included a document bearing my signature.
But I had never signed it.
I opened the attachment.
The signature looked perfect.
Almost.
At the bottom was a witness name.
Ethan Whitmore.
I turned toward my husband.
He was already shaking his head.
“Claire, I swear to you, I didn't sign this.”
May you like
But the document was dated six months earlier.
And someone had used his identity again.
