Chapter 6 - THE SIGNATURE THAT BELONGED TO MY DAUGHTER
Emily cried before I finished asking the question.
“I signed something.”
My heart dropped.
“What?”
“Dad sent it.”
Ethan stood across from me, face stricken.
“I did not.”
Emily was on speaker.
“Two months ago.”
“What did it look like?” I asked.
“A digital witness form.”
“For what?”
“I thought it was part of the estate paperwork.”
Ethan swore.
“Emily, I never sent you that.”
Silence.
“What?”
“I emailed it back to your address.”
“My work address?”
“Yes.”
Ethan opened his laptop.
Nothing.
No sent email.
No received copy.
Jacob joined the call.
He asked Emily to forward the message.
Three minutes later, he called back.
“Dad’s account was spoofed.”
Again.
Someone had built this carefully.
The forged guarantee used my identity.
Emily’s legitimate electronic signature.
A fake email from Ethan.
A lender package Ethan had not fully read.
Tessa’s father financing the company.
It looked less like reckless business and more like a trap.
But for whom?
Ethan?
Me?
Both?
Laura contacted federal investigators because identity theft crossed into criminal territory.
Northbridge opened a separate fraud investigation.
Richard Wynn stopped answering calls.
Tessa disappeared from her apartment.
That frightened me more than I expected.
By evening, police had issued a request to locate her.
Not arrest.
Locate.
At 10:20, Ethan sat in our kitchen staring at nothing.
“You should sleep,” I said.
He laughed quietly.
“I don’t live here anymore, remember?”
After filing, I had asked him to stay in the guest room.
Technically, the house was still joint property.
Emotionally, everything had shifted.
“I meant sleep somewhere.”
He rubbed his face.
“Do you think she ran?”
“Tessa?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know.”
“I trusted her.”
I looked at him.
The irony did not need explanation.
He saw it.
“I know.”
There it was again.
“I deserved that.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
We sat in silence.
Then he said:
“The kiss happened.”
I looked at him.
“I know.”
“She told you.”
“Yes.”
“I stopped it.”
“I know.”
“Not because I’m noble.”
I said nothing.
“Because I knew if I let it continue, I would lose you.”
“You were already losing me.”
“I know.”
This time, the words sounded different.
He looked toward the dark window.
“I liked how she saw me.”
“Tessa?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Successful.”
I almost laughed.
“So did I.”
“No.”
He turned toward me.
“You knew too much.”
That sentence hurt because I understood it.
“You knew every failure. Every insecure thing. Every time I panicked over money when the kids were young. Every promotion I didn’t get. Every stupid decision.”
“And that made me less attractive?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“It made your opinion matter more.”
For the first time, Ethan sounded like a man describing himself rather than selling himself.
“Tessa admired me.”
“And I loved you.”
“I know.”
He closed his eyes.
“I think admiration was easier.”
I looked at him for a long time.
Then the doorbell rang.
11:07 p.m.
We both froze.
Ethan walked toward the door.
I stopped him.
“Camera.”
He checked the security app.
Nobody visible.
Another ring.
Then a knock.
Three quick taps.
Police?
No.
I called through the door.
“Who is it?”
A woman’s voice.
“Meredith.”
Tessa.
Ethan opened the door before I could stop him.
She stood there soaked from rain.
No purse.
No phone.
Blood on her sleeve.
Ethan went pale.
“Tessa?”
She stumbled inside.
“Lock the door.”
I did.
“What happened?”
“My father.”
Her voice shook.
“He knows I gave Meredith the emails.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he hurt you?”
She looked at the blood.
“Not mine.”
That was worse.
“Whose?”
Tessa started crying.
“His assistant.”
We called police.
While Ethan spoke to the dispatcher, Tessa grabbed my wrist.
“Meredith.”
“What?”
“I know why Dad wanted your lake house.”
I stared.
“What does Lake Laurel have to do with him?”
“He doesn’t want the house.”
“What does he want?”
She looked terrified.
“The land.”
I frowned.
“There’s nothing there.”
“Yes, there is.”
“How would you know?”
“My father has been talking about it for years.”
“About my mother’s property?”
“Yes.”
My pulse jumped.
“Why?”
May you like
Tessa whispered:
“Because your mother wasn’t the original owner.”
