Chapter 6 - What Daniel Had Already Signed
Grace slept badly.
At four in the morning, she gave up.
She sat by the hotel window with Richard’s estate documents open on her laptop.
Daniel was asleep in the other room.
Separate bedrooms had been his idea.
Grace had not objected.
The trust amendment Evelyn mentioned had been drafted six weeks earlier.
Richard’s estate was enormous.
Company shares.
Real estate.
Investment accounts.
The mansion.
Under the previous plan, Evelyn would have received income from a marital trust for life, access to the mansion, and broad discretionary distributions.
The new draft was different.
If Richard died, Evelyn still received a trust.
But independent trustees controlled distributions.
She would no longer have authority over Whitmore voting shares.
The mansion could be sold.
Her guaranteed annual income dropped dramatically.
Richard had not disinherited her.
But he had removed power.
For Evelyn, that distinction probably did not matter.
Daniel entered wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants.
“You’re still awake?”
“Yes.”
He saw the screen.
“Dad’s trust?”
“Yes.”
Daniel sat opposite her.
“Is Mom right?”
“About being left with nothing? No.”
“About losing control?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at the numbers.
“She would still receive more money every year than most people earn in a decade.”
“Fear isn’t always mathematical.”
He looked at Grace.
“That sounds sympathetic.”
“It isn’t.”
Grace closed the laptop.
“Understanding someone isn’t the same as excusing them.”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“My mother spent my childhood telling Claire and me never to depend on anyone financially.”
“Maybe she was talking to herself.”
“Maybe.”
Grace studied him.
“Why did your father change the trust?”
“He says he became suspicious after Mom moved money from one of their joint accounts.”
“How much?”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
Grace stared.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“You never told me.”
Daniel looked tired.
“I’m learning that sentence is becoming a theme.”
Grace said nothing.
Daniel stood.
“There’s something else.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What?”
He walked to his briefcase.
“I found this in my Chicago files.”
He handed her a copy of an email.
From Evelyn.
To Daniel.
Four weeks earlier.
Attached: NORTHBRIDGE DUE DILIGENCE ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
Evelyn had written:
Your father has approved this in principle. Martin needs your acknowledgment tonight so they can reserve our allocation. Richard is impossible when he travels. Please don’t turn this into one of Grace’s forensic investigations. Just sign.
Grace read the final sentence again.
“Charming.”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“I signed it five minutes later.”
“Because she insulted me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted it done.”
Grace waited.
Daniel finally looked at her.
“You’ve complained for years that my mother uses me.”
“I have.”
“And I kept telling you she was just intense.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t want to admit you were right.”
Grace leaned back.
There it was.
Not stupidity.
Pride.
Daniel had signed because reading carefully might have required recognizing a pattern Grace had seen before him.
“You made me the annoying wife,” Grace said.
“I know.”
“No. You made my judgment something you had to resist.”
“I know.”
She looked at him for a long moment.
“You helped her.”
His face tightened.
“Not knowingly.”
“You helped her because believing me would have cost you something.”
Daniel did not deny it.
Grace’s phone rang.
Richard.
“Grace, can you come to the office?”
“Why?”
“The forensic team found metadata on Daniel’s acknowledgment.”
She sat straighter.
“What kind?”
“Your husband signed revision two.”
Grace looked at Daniel.
Richard continued.
“The final subscription agreement was built from revision six.”
“So clauses changed after his signature.”
“Yes.”
“How much changed?”
Richard paused.
“Enough that Martin’s law firm is now arguing Daniel’s original signature authorized the final transaction.”
“That’s nonsense.”
“Legally? Probably. Commercially? It creates a mess.”
Grace looked at Daniel.
“What changed?”
Richard answered.
“Revision two described Northbridge as a cash-equivalent investment managed by an independent adviser. Revision six authorized direct transfers to affiliated entities and waived conflict disclosures.”
Grace nearly laughed.
“That is not a revision. That is a different deal.”
“We agree.”
“Martin won’t.”
“No.”
Richard’s voice grew heavier.
“And there’s another document.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“A durable financial power of attorney.”
Daniel frowned.
“For whom?”
Richard answered.
“Me.”
Grace froze.
“It names Martin as agent.”
Richard said, “I never signed it.”
“When is it dated?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Notarized?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“A junior attorney at Martin’s firm. Jenna Park.”
Grace wrote the name down.
Richard continued.
“If accepted, Martin could claim authority to approve certain transactions while I was unavailable.”
Daniel cursed softly.
Grace asked, “Does the signature look real?”
“Yes.”
Richard’s voice became quiet.
“Because it is.”
Daniel stared at the phone.
“What do you mean?”
Richard answered.
“It came from a medical directive I signed after my surgery last year.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Same method.
Real signatures.
False documents.
Evelyn and Martin were not merely forging.
They were manufacturing authenticity from pieces of truth.
Grace said, “We need Jenna Park.”
“We’re looking for her.”
“I’ll find her.”
“Grace, no.”
She looked at Daniel.
Richard continued.
“Your employer already placed you on leave. Evelyn’s attorneys are threatening suit.”
“Then she’s afraid.”
“She is dangerous when afraid.”
“So am I.”
Richard exhaled.
“I am beginning to understand that.”
The line went dead.
Daniel leaned against the wall.
“You’re enjoying this.”
Grace looked at him sharply.
“What?”
“Not the danger. The investigation.”
She wanted to deny it.
She couldn’t.
“This is what I do.”
“This is my family.”
“And they turned me into evidence.”
Daniel flinched.
Grace stood.
“I’m going to find Jenna Park.”
He blocked the doorway.
“No.”
Grace stared.
“Move.”
“You got a photograph of your apartment from someone threatening you.”
“And?”
“And this stopped being an audit.”
“It stopped being an audit when your mother slapped me.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
Grace felt something bitter rise.
“Where was that instinct Sunday night?”
His face changed.
She immediately regretted saying it.
But regret did not make it untrue.
Daniel stepped aside.
“Fine.”
Grace walked past him.
He said, “I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You can hate me in the car.”
Grace stopped.
For one terrible second, she almost laughed.
Then her phone buzzed.
Unknown sender.
An image attachment.
It was a photograph of Jenna Park.
Leaving an office building.
Yesterday.
Beneath it:
ASK HER ABOUT THE NOTARY STAMP SHE LOST.
A second message appeared.
THEN ASK RICHARD WHY HE PAID HER.
Grace showed Daniel.
He stared at the screen.
“Who is sending these?”
Grace did not know.
But whoever it was understood the conspiracy from the inside.
May you like
And now they were pointing Grace toward Richard.
Again.
