Chapter 8 - THE BRIDE WITHOUT THE RING
Elena went downstairs first.
When she returned, she closed the door and sat beside me.
“We're going to cooperate through counsel,” she said. “Slowly and accurately.”
The investigators had questions about an account receiving money connected to Ruth's settlement.
It carried my name.
I had never seen the account number.
Afterward, I shook so hard I spilled water down my shirt.
“What if they believe him?”
“They're following records. We help them get the right ones.”
“His records have my signature.”
“Then the signature isn't where we stop.”
That evening, Victoria called from a number I didn't recognize.
I almost hung up when she spoke.
“Please. I need to see you.”
“You had plenty of chances to see me at your wedding.”
A long silence followed.
“I know.”
We met the next day in a conference room at Elena's office.
She looked younger without the careful hair and expensive smile.
That didn't make me feel sorry for her.
“He said you were bitter,” she began.
“He said you used Noah to punish him.”
“And you decided laughing at me would help?”
Her eyes dropped.
“No.”
“Look at me when you say it.”
She did.
“No. It was cruel. I knew it was cruel.”
That was the first honest thing she had ever said to me.
Her attorney slid a copy of a sworn statement across the table.
Victoria had signed it before the wedding.
It claimed she had personally seen me approve the disputed transfer during a meeting at Julian's office.
I stared at the date.
I had been at Noah's school that afternoon, helping with the science fair.
“There was no meeting,” I said.
“I know.”
“You signed this anyway?”
Julian had called it a routine correction, she explained.
He said the meeting had happened before she joined the case and asked her to confirm the paperwork.
She had read the statement.
She had known what it said.
“I wanted to believe him. So I signed something I knew wasn't true.”
“Why come now?”
She reached into her bag and placed a printed email on the table.
“Because he has a new statement ready.”
May you like
It accused Victoria of arranging the entire transfer without his knowledge.
At the bottom was a blank line for Graham's signature.
