Chapter 13 - THE PAPER SHE WOULDN'T SIGN
Paul brought the envelope in a clear document sleeve.
Emma watched from beside Ruth while his attorney explained the chain of events. Adrian had taken the folder from Victoria at the gala, then handed it to Paul for safekeeping in the manager's office.
After the confrontation, he'd told Paul to shred it.
“Why didn't you?” Emma asked.
Paul rubbed a thumb against his wedding ring.
“Because I thought I might need proof of who gave it to me.”
“You kept proof for yourself. Then asked me to sign a lie.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
He had no answer.
The document claimed Isabella had personally reviewed and approved the disputed payments. A second page would have ended her right, under the fund's original charter, to demand supporting records directly.
Emma understood why a simple refusal had turned Victoria vicious. Isabella had been the one person they couldn't silence with a dismissal letter.
Until they mistook her for someone nobody would protect.
Paul also surrendered the messages he'd received. Some concerned the settlement check. Others instructed him to circulate the false application and treat Emma as a suspected fraudster.
One from Victoria read: She needs to understand how expensive this can become.
Investigators would determine what charges the evidence supported. Ruth warned Emma against expecting an immediate arrest or a quick ending.
“Truth takes time to put into a form a court can use,” she said.
Emma was tired of time. Bills arrived on schedule. Justice seemed to keep asking for extensions.
Then Margaret called. The fund's donors had demanded an explanation at a meeting already scheduled for the following evening. Some wanted to quietly close the charity and move their gifts elsewhere.
“If they close it,” Emma asked, “what happens to the families waiting now?”
“We're working on that.”
Emma looked at Daniel's approval entry. For weeks it had been a symbol of theft. Now it looked like a promise someone still owed him.
“Let them hear from us.”
Margaret agreed to include applicant statements, with each family's permission.
An hour later, Ruth received notice that Victoria, still entitled to attend as a donor, intended to appear with counsel.
May you like
She was preparing to blame the missing money on administrative mistakes.
This time, Emma would be in the room before she started.
