Chapter 2 - THE SECRET INSIDE THE ENVELOPE
I didn't confront either of them.
Not yet.
I drove away before my courage collapsed, pulled into a grocery store parking lot, and enlarged the photographs I'd taken.
In one image, Vanessa was holding the envelope open.
Inside were several documents and what appeared to be a bank check.
The amount wasn't clear.
But the name printed beneath the signature was unmistakable.
Eliam Carter.
I zoomed in until the image broke into pixels.
Then I noticed the building's name reflected in the glass behind them: Hawthorne Legal Group.
A law firm.
Why would my husband and sister meet secretly at a law firm while he pretended to be working?
I searched the firm's website and discovered that it specialized in estate planning, corporate acquisitions, and high-value property disputes.
My thoughts immediately returned to my father.
Three years earlier, he had died after a brief illness, leaving me the house where I'd grown up and a modest investment account.
Vanessa had received a cash settlement.
She'd complained for months that I'd gotten the better deal.
But that inheritance had been settled long ago.
At least, that's what I'd believed.
I called the law firm's main number and asked whether Eliam Carter had an appointment.
The receptionist politely refused to discuss client information.
I expected that.
What I didn't expect was hearing a familiar voice in the background.
Vanessa.
She was speaking urgently to someone.
"She can't find out before we finish the transfer."
I stopped breathing.
The receptionist asked whether she could help me with anything else.
I hung up.
A transfer.
My husband had been handing my sister money, and now they were discussing keeping something from me until a transfer was complete.
I opened my banking app.
Our joint savings account looked normal.
But when I checked the mortgage account, I noticed a notification I'd overlooked three days earlier.
A document had been uploaded for electronic signature.
The title read: PROPERTY EQUITY AUTHORIZATION.
I had never signed it.
I opened the document.
May you like
My home address appeared at the top.
And beneath it was my name, attached to a signature that looked almost exactly like mine.
