Chapter 5 - the signature that looked almost like mine)
The signature was good.
That was the terrifying part.
Emily stared at the scanned loan document on Grace's conference room screen.
The E curved the way hers did.
The C in Carter leaned slightly forward.
Even the final stroke matched the careless line she usually made when signing quickly.
But it was not hers.
She knew because the loan closing date was May 17 of the previous year.
Emily had been in Louisville that day with her mother.
Her mother had undergone surgery.
Emily had spent the entire afternoon in a hospital waiting room.
Ryan had been in Indianapolis.
"Can we prove where I was?"
Grace asked.
Emily nodded immediately.
"Hospital records. Hotel receipt. My mother died six months later, but her medical file will show I was her contact."
Grace wrote it down.
Daniel continued through the documents.
The loan proceeds had entered a joint account.
Then they had been divided within forty eight hours.
Two hundred thousand went to Carter Development Group.
One hundred thousand went to Cedar Ridge Consulting.
Eighty thousand went to an investment account.
Fifty thousand covered older business debt.
The remaining fifty thousand moved through three transfers Grace described as laundering without technically calling it laundering.
Emily stared at the screen.
"Where did the investment money go?"
Daniel hesitated.
"An account controlled by Madison Blake."
Emily closed her eyes.
Grace watched her.
"Do you want a minute?"
"No."
"Emily."
"I said no."
She opened her eyes.
"What else?"
Daniel sounded almost apologetic.
"There's a personal guarantee attached to one of Carter Development's commercial loans."
"Mine?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Nine hundred thousand."
Emily laughed.
Grace did not.
Daniel continued.
"The signature appears questionable."
Emily's laughter stopped.
"Questionable?"
"It resembles the home equity signature."
Silence filled the room.
Emily looked toward the window.
Traffic moved below them.
People crossed streets.
A delivery truck stopped beside the building.
Ordinary life continued while she discovered that the person she had slept beside for seven years had been manufacturing a financial version of her behind her back.
Her signature.
Her credit.
Her inheritance.
Her home.
All being used by a man who now wanted to call her broke.
Grace closed the laptop.
"We request an emergency order today."
"What does that do?"
"Freezes certain transfers. Prevents property from being sold. Forces disclosure."
"Will the judge grant it?"
"With this evidence, I believe so."
Emily placed both hands on the table.
"Ryan told me the company was leveraged."
"It is."
"He told me there wasn't much cash."
"There may not be."
Emily looked at Grace.
"Because he took it."
"Possibly."
"No."
Emily's voice became firm.
"Because he took it."
Grace did not argue.
That afternoon, Judge Hale issued a temporary restraining order preventing Ryan from transferring significant marital assets without court approval.
Ryan called Emily eleven minutes after he received notice.
She ignored the first call.
The second.
The third.
Then he sent a message.
You have no idea what you just did.
Emily forwarded it to Grace.
Another arrived.
You are destroying the company your child will depend on.
Then another.
Call me now.
Emily did not.
At six thirty that evening, someone pounded on the front door.
Ryan.
Emily saw him through the glass.
She did not open it.
"Emily."
He knocked again.
"Open the door."
She stood in the hallway.
"You can talk from there."
Ryan looked through the glass.
His face was furious.
"You froze company accounts."
"I froze marital assets."
"You don't understand the difference."
"Apparently neither did you."
Ryan lowered his voice.
"Madison has nothing to do with this."
Emily almost admired the reflex.
Not concern for his wife.
Not concern for his unborn child.
Madison.
"Then her bank records should clear that up."
His expression changed.
Emily saw it.
Fear.
Not anger.
Fear.
Ryan stepped closer to the door.
"What records do you have?"
She said nothing.
"What did Grace find?"
Emily smiled faintly.
Ryan's face tightened.
"You think this is some game?"
"No."
"Then stop acting like you won."
"I don't know whether I won."
Emily rested a hand over her stomach.
"But you definitely stopped smiling."
He punched the wooden frame beside the door.
Emily flinched despite herself.
Ryan saw it.
Something cruel returned to his face.
"There she is."
Emily stared at him.
"The real Emily. Scared."
He leaned closer to the glass.
"You're going to have a baby in a month. You have no job right now. The house has debt. The company has debt. Lawyers cost money. You think Grace Whitaker works for free?"
Emily did not respond.
Ryan smiled.
"When this is over, you will wish you had signed what I gave you."
He turned away.
Then Emily spoke.
"Who's Lucy?"
Ryan stopped.
For several seconds, he did not move.
When he finally turned, his face looked different.
Not angry.
Empty.
Emily understood the answer before he spoke.
"Where did you hear that name?"
She felt her remaining hope disappear.
"Good night, Ryan."
"Emily."
She walked away from the door.
"Emily."
She kept walking.
His voice became louder.
"Emily, open this door."
She reached the staircase.
"Do not contact Sarah."
Emily stopped.
Ryan realized too late what he had said.
She slowly turned toward the door.
He closed his eyes.
Now she had the mother's name confirmed from his own mouth.
Sarah.
Emily went upstairs.
Ryan stayed outside for another seven minutes.
May you like
The next morning, Grace's investigator called Sarah Miller.
Sarah hung up immediately.
