Chapter 10 - SOMEONE HAD SIGNED MY NAME YEARS BEFORE
The signature looked real.
Too real.
Twenty-six-year-old me.
The shape was different then.
More angular.
Faster.
I had almost forgotten how I signed my name before years of legal documents changed it.
The agreement claimed that I had accepted Henry Parker’s capital under a condition:
If NovaStream ever exceeded a valuation threshold, Parker beneficiaries could convert the bridge financing into a minority equity stake.
Mark stared at the screen.
“Does this mean my family owns part of NovaStream?”
Diane looked equally stunned.
“No.”
Sterling pulled up the original financing file.
“That clause was not in our copy.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Mason altered it.”
“Maybe,” I said.
But something bothered me.
The signature.
A forged clause was easy.
A perfect version of my old signature was harder.
Then Diane whispered, “Henry had your signature.”
Everyone looked at her.
“He helped notarize documents for the bridge.”
Mark laughed bitterly.
“So Dad forged Elena?”
“No.”
Diane shook her head.
“He would never.”
Sterling examined the metadata from Mason’s leaked page.
The paper appeared old.
Ink patterns consistent with age.
Not conclusive.
But troubling.
I asked Diane whether Henry kept copies of bridge documents.
She nodded.
“In the bank box.”
“What bank box?”
Her face changed.
Another secret.
Henry had maintained a private safe-deposit box until his death.
Diane closed it afterward.
Or thought she did.
“When was the last time you accessed it?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Who else had authority?”
She looked at Mark.
“My sister.”
Mark frowned.
“Aunt Carolyn?”
Diane nodded.
Carolyn Parker.
Henry’s younger sister.
A corporate attorney.
Retired in Carmel.
Someone I had not seen in years.
Sterling searched her name.
Then stopped.
“Carolyn represented Mason Wren in a licensing dispute four years ago.”
Diane stood so fast her chair nearly fell.
“No.”
The room went silent.
Family betrayal has a different sound.
It is quieter than business betrayal.
Heavier.
Diane called her sister.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One message.
ELENA, YOUR GRANDMOTHER LIED TO YOU ABOUT HENRY.
Attached was a photograph.
Henry Parker and my grandmother standing outside a courthouse.
Behind them, Adrian.
Mason.
And Carolyn.
The date was two weeks after the supposed founder settlement.
May you like
At the bottom of the photograph someone had written:
APPENDIX NINE SIGNED.
