Chapter 4 - THE PAPER I SHOULD NEVER HAVE SIGNED
Riverside.
The word pulled an old memory out of me.
A kitchen table.
Mason’s laptop.
A stack of papers.
Me barefoot in sweatpants, eating cold pasta because he had come home two hours late.
“Just sign on the tabs,” he had said.
“What is it?”
“Tax restructuring.”
“I should read it.”
“You can. It’s boring as hell.”
Then he smiled.
That warm, confident smile I used to trust more than my own instincts.
“Claire, do you honestly think I’d ever put something dangerous in front of you?”
I signed.
Three times.
Maybe four.
I looked at Mason now.
“You remember.”
He didn’t answer.
“Oh my God.”
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“Claire, there are things you don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.”
“I can’t do this here.”
“Interesting. Everybody keeps saying that.”
Julian took his phone back.
“What was Riverside?”
Mason snapped, “None of your business.”
Julian’s eyes went cold.
“You used my company to finance it.”
My head jerked toward him.
Mason said nothing.
Julian looked at me.
“Vanessa and I had a small production company. Events, live theater, corporate shows. Nothing huge, but we were doing well.”
“You were together?”
He hesitated.
“We were engaged.”
There it was.
The bride flinched.
I stared at Vanessa.
“You were engaged to him?”
She whispered, “It was complicated.”
Julian gave a bitter laugh.
“It really wasn’t.”
Mason looked toward the crowd.
“We need to end this.”
“No,” I said.
For once, my voice stopped him.
I stepped closer.
“Did you know she was engaged?”
Mason’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
The answer landed like a slap.
“And were you sleeping with her then?”
“Claire.”
“Yes or no?”
Vanessa said, “This isn’t helping anyone.”
I turned on her.
“You slept with my husband while you were engaged to him?”
Her eyes flashed.
“You think Mason and I are the only people who made mistakes?”
“Did you?”
She looked away.
That was my answer.
I felt strangely calm.
Maybe there’s a point where pain gets so sharp your body stops trying to process it.
I looked at Julian.
“How long?”
He swallowed.
“I found out about them five years ago.”
Five years.
My marriage had ended eighteen months ago.
Which meant Mason’s affair hadn’t started near the end.
It had run through almost half my marriage.
“Five years,” I repeated.
Mason lowered his voice.
“It wasn’t continuous.”
I actually stared at him.
“That’s your defense?”
“I’m saying things changed.”
“Apparently not enough to stop you from marrying her.”
Julian looked at me carefully.
“There’s more.”
“Of course there is.”
His expression made my stomach tighten.
“What?”
“Riverside wasn’t just a property.”
Mason stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Julian ignored him.
“It was a development deal Mason couldn’t afford.”
I looked at Mason.
“You told me your investors funded your first project.”
“They did.”
“Partly,” Julian said.
Mason’s fist tightened.
Julian continued.
“The rest came from two places.”
He pointed at himself.
“My company.”
Then at me.
“And apparently you.”
I stopped breathing.
“My money?”
“Your signature.”
Mason said, “You’re twisting this.”
Julian opened another screenshot.
A bank transfer.
Then another.
Then a scanned contract.
My name was at the bottom.
Claire Bennett-Hale.
My signature.
But I had never seen that document in my life.
I looked up slowly.
“Mason.”
He didn’t move.
“That’s not my signature.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
And for the first time all night, Mason looked less scared of Julian than he looked of me.
Because I had finally understood.
May you like
Someone hadn’t just tricked me into signing papers.
Someone had forged my name.
