Chapter 14 - THE LAST FORGED SIGNATURE
This time, nobody believed the signature was mine.
That was the difference.
Six years ago, Nathan controlled the story.
Now people were watching.
The cancellation request had been submitted electronically at 2:17 a.m.
Melissa traced it through the university’s legal team.
The request came from an IP address connected to a condominium owned by Victoria Harlan.
By noon, Victoria had hired her own attorney.
By three, she was cooperating.
Not because she suddenly developed a conscience.
Because Charles Harlan had apparently been using her too.
Victoria admitted that her father encouraged the relationship with Nathan because he believed Nathan would be useful for Project Northstar.
Young doctor.
Good public image.
Ambitious.
Easy to control.
The original scholarship had been legitimate.
The manipulation came later.
Victoria claimed she didn’t know Nathan had forged my signatures until years afterward.
I wasn’t sure I believed everything she said.
Neither was Melissa.
But Victoria provided records.
Lots of them.
Emails.
Bank transfers.
Project documents.
One message from Nathan hurt more than the others.
Victoria had once asked:
Does Emily still want to be a doctor?
Nathan replied:
Probably. But she’ll never leave me, and as long as she stays exhausted, she’ll never go back.
I sat in Melissa’s office staring at that sentence.
As long as she stays exhausted.
Suddenly, thousands of memories changed shape.
Every extra shift Nathan encouraged me to take.
Every time he said we were “almost there.”
Every bill he claimed had increased.
Every weekend I worked because he said we were falling behind.
Exhaustion had not been an unfortunate consequence.
It had been part of the strategy.
Three days later, Nathan’s residency appointment was placed on administrative hold pending the university investigation.
Project Northstar was frozen.
The foundation announced an independent forensic audit.
Charles Harlan resigned temporarily from several board positions while the review continued.
None of that erased what happened.
But the machine Nathan believed would protect him had finally stopped moving.
Then Melissa called me into her office.
“We’ve reached the financial tracing stage.”
She placed a report in front of me.
Investigators had tracked nearly every dollar I transferred to Nathan.
Most had never paid tuition.
Some went into investments.
Some funded travel.
Some helped capitalize Project Northstar.
The total traceable amount connected directly to my earnings was staggering.
But one number surprised me.
There was still money left.
A lot of it.
Funds in an account Nathan had not successfully transferred before the investigation began.
Melissa looked at me.
“We can petition for those assets to be frozen as marital property.”
I stared at the report.
“How much?”
She turned the page.
$243,611.
My breath caught.
Years of my life had become a number on paper.
Melissa waited.
Then she smiled slightly.
“There’s one more thing.”
Nathan had signed the investment account documents himself.
He had also written a description beside the source of funds.
SPOUSAL CONTRIBUTIONS.
May you like
For years, he had insisted the money was his.
Now his own handwriting might help return it to me.
