Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO FILMED ME
By nine-thirty, Melissa Prescott was sitting in the lobby of Nina’s law firm.
She had requested the meeting.
Not Daniel.
Not Richard.
Melissa.
Nina wanted me behind the glass conference partition when she came in.
I refused.
“If she lied while filming me, she can lie to my face.”
Melissa entered wearing oversized sunglasses and the same pearl earrings she had worn at dinner.
She didn’t look smug anymore.
She looked terrified.
She sat down.
“I need protection.”
Nina’s expression didn’t move.
“You need your own attorney.”
“I have one.”
“Then why are you here?”
Melissa looked at me.
“Because Daniel is blaming me.”
I almost laughed.
“You notarized a forged power of attorney.”
“I didn’t know it was forged.”
“My signature was on it.”
“He told me you signed earlier.”
“And you didn’t watch me sign.”
She looked away.
“That was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel said it was just paperwork.”
The phrase traveled through me.
Just paperwork.
For nine years, Daniel had used those words whenever I asked him to read something.
Interesting how dangerous paperwork became when people finally read it.
Nina asked:
“Why did you receive seventy-five thousand dollars?”
Melissa’s jaw tightened.
“Repayment.”
“For?”
“Money I loaned Daniel.”
“When?”
“Over the last year.”
“How much total?”
“About one hundred ten.”
“Source?”
“My savings.”
Marcus, who was listening remotely, sent Nina a message on her laptop.
She read it.
Then looked at Melissa.
“You had twelve thousand dollars in liquid savings fourteen months ago.”
Melissa froze.
I watched the lie collapse.
“Try again,” I said.
She removed her sunglasses.
Her eyes were red.
“Mom gave it to me.”
“Daniel’s mother?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she get it?”
“I don’t know.”
Nina slid a printed bank statement across the table.
“We do.”
Melissa read it.
Her face changed.
The funds had originated from Lake Ridge Holdings.
One of Daniel’s shell companies.
“You were paid with company money,” I said.
“I didn’t know.”
“That sentence is becoming popular.”
She started crying.
I felt almost nothing.
Then she said:
“Daniel told us you were leaving.”
“What?”
“He said your marriage was over.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“He was lying.”
“I know that now.”
“What else did he tell you?”
Melissa hesitated.
“That you were trying to take the company.”
I stared at her.
“I already own the company.”
“He said you were going to force him out.”
“Why?”
“Because Ridgeway wanted their money.”
There it was.
She knew Ridgeway.
Nina leaned forward.
“Tell us everything.”
Melissa rubbed both hands over her face.
Daniel had borrowed heavily.
At first, for expansion.
Then to cover personal losses.
Then to repay earlier debt.
Richard knew.
Their mother, Patricia, knew.
The family panicked.
If Daniel defaulted, Ridgeway could force litigation over his 39 percent stake and expose the unauthorized pledge.
That could trigger lender covenants at Prescott Logistics.
So Richard came up with a solution.
Change the operating agreement.
Reduce my control.
Push through a refinance.
Use company assets to rescue Daniel’s personal debt.
“And I would approve that?” I asked.
Melissa looked at me.
“No.”
“So?”
“Daniel said you wouldn’t have a choice.”
My skin went cold.
“What does that mean?”
“He said after the anniversary, you’d be gone.”
Nina stopped writing.
“Gone where?”
“I thought he meant divorce.”
“Did he?”
Melissa began crying harder.
“I don’t know.”
Then she looked at me.
“There’s something else.”
I waited.
“Daniel wasn’t supposed to humiliate you at dinner.”
I laughed once.
“He improvised?”
“No. Mom told him to.”
“Why?”
“To make you leave.”
The room went still.
“Leave the restaurant?”
“Leave him.”
“Why would they want that?”
Melissa swallowed.
“Because they needed footage.”
I thought of her phone.
Her filming.
The laughter.
My reaction.
My ring on the table.
I stared.
“You were recording evidence.”
She nodded.
“Evidence of what?”
“That you abandoned the marriage.”
Nina cursed under her breath.
Melissa continued.
“Daniel’s lawyer said if you walked out angry, it could support their timeline.”
“What timeline?”
“The one showing you had withdrawn from the company and the marriage before the transfers.”
My grief disappeared.
This was no longer a cruel family dinner.
It had been staged.
They wanted a video of me leaving.
Then they planned to use forged documents to make my exit look voluntary.
I looked at Melissa.
“Where’s the original video?”
“On my phone.”
“Give it to Nina.”
Melissa hesitated.
Then placed the phone on the table.
“There’s another video.”
“What?”
“From after you left.”
My heartbeat slowed.
“Play it.”
She did.
The dining room appeared.
Daniel was laughing.
Richard poured champagne.
Patricia raised her glass.
Then Daniel said:
“She bought it.”
Patricia answered:
May you like
“Good. By Monday, Claire Prescott won’t own enough of anything to threaten this family again.”
And everyone at the table toasted.
