Chapter 8 - PATRICIA’S SIGNATURE

I walked downstairs holding the document.

Patricia was sitting on a couch while a detective questioned Victoria nearby.

“Did you sign this?”

Patricia looked at the page.

Her face changed.

“No.”

“Your name is right there.”

“That isn’t my signature.”

I placed the paper in front of her.

“It looks exactly like it.”

She stared.

Then turned toward Daniel.

He was across the room speaking with another detective.

“Daniel!”

He ignored her.

“DANIEL!”

Everyone looked.

Patricia stood.

“What did you do?”

Daniel’s face tightened.

For the first time all night, mother and son were no longer on the same side.

“You told me these were estate planning papers,” she said.

Daniel didn’t answer.

“You said Emily approved everything.”

“Mom, stop talking.”

Patricia stared at him.

“Did you copy my signature?”

“Stop talking.”

“Oh my God.”

She looked at me.

“He asked me for old checks.”

My chest tightened.

“What?”

“Two months ago. He said the bank needed signature samples because we were changing accounts.”

Marcus stepped closer.

“How many checks?”

“I don’t know. Maybe six.”

Daniel shouted, “Mom!”

She spun on him.

“You used me?”

Daniel laughed.

“You enjoyed the money.”

Patricia looked like he had slapped her too.

“I’m your mother.”

“And?”

Her face collapsed.

Maybe she was finally seeing the man she had helped create.

Detective Grant asked Daniel to sit down.

He refused.

“I want my attorney.”

“He’s on his way.”

“I’m done talking.”

Victoria laughed from the other side of the room.

“That’s what he does when he gets scared.”

Daniel glared at her.

“You think you’re walking away from this?”

Victoria’s confidence disappeared.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You signed documents too.”

She froze.

Marcus looked at her.

“What documents?”

Victoria turned pale.

“I didn’t know what they were.”

Daniel smiled.

“Oh, now you didn’t know?”

Victoria jumped up.

“You said they were company forms!”

“You signed as director of Vance Holdings.”

Marcus’s head snapped up.

“Vance Holdings?”

He pulled out his phone.

I remembered the initials.

V.V.

Maybe they didn’t only mean Victoria Vance.

“Marcus?”

He was already searching.

Then he looked at me.

“Vance Holdings received the eight million.”

Victoria sat down slowly.

“I never touched that money.”

Daniel laughed.

“But your name owns the company.”

“I didn’t create it!”

“Prove it.”

Victoria’s face went white.

Suddenly, she wasn’t a confident secret lover anymore.

She was terrified.

Then her phone started ringing.

Everyone looked toward the table where an officer had placed it.

The screen showed:

UNKNOWN NUMBER.

The detective answered on speaker.

A man’s voice said:

“Victoria, leave the house now.”

Nobody spoke.

The voice continued.

“If the police have the laptop, Daniel is finished.”

Then the call ended.

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Marcus looked at me.

“Someone else is involved.”