Chapter 7 - THE DOCUMENT WAITING FOR ME
Peter Lang was already packing a leather folder when we reached his table.
That told me everything.
“You’re leaving?” I asked.
He looked at Mason.
Not at me.
Mason said, “Peter, go home.”
I put my hand on the folder.
“No.”
Peter frowned.
“Claire, I don’t think—”
“What’s in here?”
“Privileged material.”
“Mine?”
Silence.
I tightened my grip.
“If my name is on anything inside that folder, show me.”
Mason stepped forward.
“She has no right—”
Nora cut him off.
“If she’s a signatory, she absolutely has a right to know what you’re asking her to sign.”
Peter looked miserable now.
Good.
I had spent years being the uncomfortable person in rooms Mason controlled.
It was refreshing to watch somebody else sweat.
Peter finally opened the folder.
The document on top was titled:
RELEASE OF CLAIM AND RATIFICATION OF PRIOR AUTHORIZATION.
My name appeared twice on the first page.
I stared at it.
“What is ‘ratification of prior authorization’?”
Nora answered.
“It means they want you to confirm that something done in the past was authorized by you.”
I looked at Mason.
“You want me to legally approve something you already did.”
“No.”
Peter cleared his throat.
“That’s an oversimplification.”
“Then simplify it correctly.”
He didn’t.
Julian stepped beside me.
“They forged her signature, and now they need her real one to cover it.”
Mason exploded.
“Stop saying that!”
The ballroom went silent again.
He lowered his voice.
“You have no idea what happened.”
Julian stared at him.
“I know exactly what happened to me.”
“This isn’t about you.”
“It became about me when I saw Riverside.”
I turned.
“What does that mean?”
Julian looked toward Peter’s folder.
“Ask him where the first three hundred thousand dollars came from.”
Peter’s face went blank.
Mason said, “Don’t answer that.”
Peter looked at him.
That was another answer.
Julian laughed without humor.
“My company.”
Vanessa whispered, “Julian…”
He turned on her.
“You transferred it three days before you disappeared.”
My pulse quickened.
“You mean Vanessa stole money from your business?”
She shook her head.
“It was my company too.”
“Half of it.”
“I was entitled to—”
“You emptied the account.”
“Because you were unstable!”
Julian stared at her.
“Is that still the story?”
Something in his tone silenced her.
I looked at him.
“What happened?”
He took a breath.
“Five years ago, Vanessa told people I was controlling. Then dangerous. Then obsessed.”
Vanessa cut in.
“You were obsessed.”
“I was trying to find out why my fiancée emptied our business account and disappeared.”
“You followed me.”
“To the bank.”
“You showed up at my office.”
“Because you stopped answering your phone!”
Mason smirked.
“You see?”
Julian’s hands tightened.
I touched his wrist.
He stopped.
Not because Mason deserved restraint.
Because Julian did.
I knew what it felt like to have somebody poke at your worst pain until you looked like the unstable one.
I looked at Vanessa.
“Did he ever hurt you?”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
I asked again.
“Did Julian ever physically hurt you?”
Her eyes shifted.
“No.”
Julian closed his eyes for one second.
Five years of anger seemed to move through his face.
Then disappear.
Mason muttered, “That doesn’t mean—”
“Shut up,” I said.
He stared at me.
I had never told him that during our marriage.
Not once.
It felt amazing.
Nora picked up the document.
“Claire, there’s another problem.”
“What?”
“If Riverside sells Monday and this fraud gets challenged, there could be an investigation.”
“Good.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
My stomach sank again.
“Because your signature is already on the original paperwork, they could initially treat you like a participant.”
I stared at her.
“You mean I could be blamed?”
“Until you prove otherwise.”
Mason looked at me with that familiar calm confidence.
And suddenly I understood his plan completely.
If I signed tonight, I protected him.
If I refused, he still had old documents with my forged signature.
Either way, he thought he could control the story.
Just like our divorce.
I looked at Julian.
“You said you had messages.”
“Yes.”
“Enough to prove what happened?”
His expression changed.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
He hesitated.
“There was one conversation I never understood.”
“Show me.”
He unlocked his phone.
Vanessa lunged forward.
Not Mason.
Vanessa.
She tried to grab it.
Julian stepped back.
Too late.
Everyone saw.
I stared at her.
“What’s in that conversation?”
Vanessa’s voice dropped to a whisper.
May you like
“Nothing you want to read.”
That was exactly when I knew I had to.
