Chapter 3 - The Man Who Approved the Money
By midnight, Daniel had moved Emily back to their Connecticut home.
Rebecca was barred from entering until ownership and access issues were reviewed.
She was not Daniel’s wife.
That simplified some things.
It complicated others.
There would be no divorce.
But there would also be no automatic explanation for why she had been able to access so much of Daniel’s private life.
Nora sat in the kitchen while Daniel’s personal attorney, Maya Chen, reviewed the documents.
Maya was forty-six, precise, and unimpressed by wealth.
She held the Bellweather form beneath a lamp.
“Your signature is good.”
“I know.”
“Not good enough to survive forensic comparison if it’s forged. But good enough for a receptionist.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
Emily was sleeping upstairs with the light on.
“Can Bellweather just take a child on these papers?”
“No reputable residential program should admit a seven-year-old without verifying parental authority, clinical basis, identity, and consent. Their procedures will matter.”
“The car came anyway.”
“Which means someone convinced them the authorization was real.”
Daniel looked at Nora.
She was pale.
“What did Rebecca tell you?”
“That Emily would attend a special school for a few weeks.”
“You packed everything.”
“Rebecca said the rest would be shipped.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“She told Emily forever.”
Nora closed her eyes.
“I didn’t know.”
Maya asked, “Did Rebecca ever ask you to sign anything?”
Nora hesitated.
Daniel saw it.
“Nora.”
“One page.”
His stomach tightened.
“What page?”
“I thought it was a travel acknowledgment.”
Maya’s expression hardened.
“Where?”
“At the wedding venue yesterday morning.”
“What did it say?”
“I didn’t read all of it.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You signed something without reading it?”
The irony hit him before she answered.
He had done the same thing many times in business.
Nora whispered, “Rebecca said the planner needed it immediately.”
Maya searched the packet.
At the bottom of the transport authorization was a witness line.
Nora Kim.
Her signature.
Nora covered her mouth.
“Oh, God.”
Daniel’s anger softened into something worse.
“You helped authenticate my forged signature.”
“I’m sorry.”
Maya intervened.
“Intent matters. So does what you were told.”
Daniel walked to the window.
Outside, white tents from the canceled reception still stood across the lawn.
He had paid nearly half a million dollars for a wedding that lasted less than ten minutes.
He suddenly cared very little about that money.
His phone rang.
Mercer Development’s board chairman.
“Daniel, what happened?”
“Someone forged my signature on a voting proxy.”
A long silence.
“Caleb says you authorized it.”
“I did not.”
“He also says the East Harbor meeting must proceed.”
“Cancel it.”
“The board can’t simply cancel a properly noticed extraordinary meeting.”
“Then I’m formally revoking any proxy bearing my signature.”
The chairman exhaled.
“Send it in writing.”
Daniel did.
Twenty minutes later, Caleb called.
“You’re creating a financing crisis.”
“You paid ninety-six thousand dollars from the family foundation to send my daughter away.”
Caleb fell silent.
Daniel continued.
“That account requires dual authorization above fifty thousand.”
“Rebecca submitted it as a youth behavioral-health grant.”
“And you approved it.”
“She told me you supported it.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“You were getting married.”
“Try again.”
Caleb’s voice hardened.
“You’ve become impossible to work with since Claire died.”
Daniel went still.
“Do not use my wife’s death as an excuse for fraud.”
“Don’t call it fraud.”
“You approved foundation money for a private service benefiting my household.”
Caleb paused.
“That can be reimbursed.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“You think this is accounting?”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know yet.”
After the call ended, Nora stared at Daniel.
“What?”
She swallowed.
“I saw Rebecca and Caleb together.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“Together how?”
“In your study.”
“That isn’t strange. He comes here.”
“The door was locked.”
Daniel waited.
Nora’s eyes filled.
“When I walked in, Rebecca was fixing her blouse.”
The kitchen became silent.
Daniel looked away.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see them kiss?”
“No.”
“Then don’t turn suspicion into fact.”
Nora nodded.
It was a lesson Daniel was forcing himself to learn quickly.
Maya’s phone buzzed.
She checked an email from Mercer Development’s IT director.
“The proxy file was created four days ago.”
Daniel turned.
“Where?”
“On a company laptop assigned to Caleb’s executive office.”
Nora whispered, “Then it was him.”
Maya shook her head.
“Not yet. Lots of people can touch an office computer.”
Then she scrolled.
“The document was emailed to Rebecca from an internal Mercer account.”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“Which account?”
Maya looked at him.
“Yours.”
Daniel stared.
He had not opened his company laptop in four days.
May you like
Someone had not only copied his signature.
Someone had been operating inside his identity.
