Chapter 2 - THE SIGNATURE
I picked up the forged transfer document.
My signature looked perfect.
Almost perfect.
But my father had taught me something when I was young.
Never sign the same way twice.
Because he believed signatures were supposed to carry emotion.
This one didn't.
It was too controlled.
Too clean.
Too deliberate.
“This isn't my signature.”
Marcus exhaled.
“Naomi—”
“Don't.”
He stopped.
Camille stepped toward me.
“You need to understand that Marcus never intended to hurt you.”
I laughed.
“You were wearing my robe.”
Her face hardened.
“That isn't relevant.”
“It is to me.”
Evelyn remained silent.
Then she opened another file.
“There's something else.”
She handed me a bank statement.
I stared at it.
A joint account.
Withdrawals.
Large ones.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
All made over the previous eighteen months.
I looked at Marcus.
“Where did this money go?”
He didn't answer.
Evelyn did.
“To Camille's firm.”
Camille snapped:
“Legal retainers.”
“Of course,” Evelyn said.
“Retainers?”
I looked at her.
“For what?”
Camille's silence told me everything.
Evelyn pulled out another document.
“A corporate restructuring.”
I read the company name.
Ross Strategic Holdings.
Camille's company.
“What does this have to do with my house?”
“Everything.”
Evelyn pointed to the ownership section.
Marcus's name was listed.
So was Camille's.
And underneath them was another name.
Mine.
But my percentage was zero.
I stared at it.
“How?”
Evelyn's expression softened.
“Someone transferred your shares.”
“Who?”
She looked at Marcus.
“He did.”
Marcus finally raised his voice.
“You don't know what you're talking about!”
Evelyn didn't flinch.
“I know exactly what I'm talking about.”
She removed a flash drive from the folder.
“Because I have the original electronic records.”
Marcus stared at it.
Then I noticed something.
His right hand was shaking.
“You said you wanted the house,” I whispered.
Marcus looked at me.
“I wanted a future.”
“With her?”
He looked toward Camille.
Camille immediately stepped away.
Marcus hesitated.
That hesitation hurt more than the affair.
Then Evelyn said something that made both of them freeze.
“You're both asking the wrong question.”
I turned.
“What question?”
“Who actually owns the debt?”
The room went silent.
Evelyn opened one final file.
The mortgage wasn't under my name.
It wasn't under Marcus's.
It was held by a private lender.
A company I had never heard of.
Blackwood Capital.
I looked at Evelyn.
“What is Blackwood?”
May you like
Her expression changed.
“That's the part your father never wanted you to know.”
