Chapter 3 - The Wrong Signature
The next morning, Clara canceled her medical appointment and visited Naomi Chen, the attorney who had managed her father’s estate.
Naomi read the authorization document twice.
“This is not standard,” she said.
Clara sat across from her in a quiet conference room.
“What would happen if I signed it?”
“If two approved physicians questioned your mental or physical capacity, Richard could exercise your voting rights. He could remove board members, approve acquisitions, borrow against company assets, or attempt to restructure the trust.”
“Could he take my shares?”
“Not directly. But with enough control, he could make them nearly worthless.”
Clara remembered Richard’s impatience and Sabrina’s message.
“Who chooses the physicians?”
Naomi pointed to a section near the bottom.
“Richard does.”
A cold feeling moved through Clara’s chest.
Naomi opened an encrypted company database and began reviewing recent filings. Twenty minutes later, she found an electronic copy of the document.
It contained Clara’s signature.
“That isn’t mine,” Clara said.
The signature looked convincing, but one detail was wrong. Clara always connected the final two letters of her surname. On the document, they were separate.
Naomi immediately contacted the company’s outside counsel.
By noon, they discovered three more documents carrying the same forged signature.
One approved a twenty-million-dollar loan.
Another authorized the sale of a research subsidiary.
The third transferred company funds to a consulting firm called Northstar Strategic Holdings.
“Have you heard of Northstar?” Naomi asked.
“No.”
“The company was formed eight months ago.”
“Who owns it?”
“The ownership is hidden behind several entities.”
Clara looked through the glass wall at the city below.
Richard had access to every financial system in Whitmore Aeronautics. He had personally designed many of its internal controls.
If he wanted to steal from the company, he knew exactly where to hide the money.
Clara’s hand moved to her stomach as the baby shifted.
“What should I do?”
“Act normally,” Naomi said. “Do not confront him yet.”
“You want me to return home and pretend I know nothing?”
“I want him to believe his plan is working. Right now, we have suspicious documents. We need proof showing who created them and why.”
Clara closed her eyes.
She had entered Naomi’s office hoping for an innocent explanation.
Instead, she had learned that her husband was attempting to steal her authority using forged documents.
“Find everything,” Clara said.
Naomi studied her face.
“Even if it destroys your marriage?”
May you like
Clara opened her eyes.
“If the truth destroys my marriage, then the truth was never the real threat.”
