Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST
Emily's father had died when she was sixteen.
At least, that was what she had been told.
A heart attack.
A sudden death.
A closed casket.
No questions.
No funeral details.
No photographs afterward.
Diane never talked about him.
Emily had accepted that silence as grief.
Now she wasn't sure.
She stared at the document.
Her father's signature was unmistakable.
But the date was impossible.
He had supposedly died twelve years earlier.
The document was dated six years after his death.
Daniel looked at her.
“Emily?”
She couldn't speak.
Her hands trembled.
“That's his signature.”
“Are you sure?”
“I watched him sign things my entire childhood.”
Daniel zoomed in.
“There might be an explanation.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
She stood.
“My father is dead.”
“Then someone forged his signature.”
“Or…”
She couldn't finish.
Daniel gently took the document.
“We need facts.”
Emily nodded.
They contacted an attorney.
The attorney examined the document.
After several minutes, he looked at them.
“This is not a simple family dispute.”
“What is it?”
“There are multiple entities here.”
He pointed to the document.
“Your father appears to have been connected to this company.”
Emily stared.
“What company?”
The attorney turned the page.
Whitmore Holdings.
Emily felt the room tilt.
The same company receiving money from her accounts.
The same company connected to her mother's mortgage.
The same company Jonathan Reed had mentioned.
Then the attorney said something neither of them expected.
“Your father appears to have been the original owner.”
Emily's heart stopped.
“That can't be.”
“According to this document, he transferred control shortly before his reported death.”
“To whom?”
The attorney looked at the signature.
“To Diane Whitmore.”
Emily stared at him.
Her mother.
The woman who had spent years telling Emily that her father left them with nothing.
The woman who had called Emily selfish for asking questions.
The woman who had claimed the family needed Emily's help.
Emily whispered,
“She lied.”
The attorney didn't answer.
Then his assistant entered the room.
“There is another issue.”
“What?”
“The company has an active account.”
Emily looked up.
“Who has access?”
The assistant handed her a printout.
One name appeared.
Ryan Whitmore.
Emily closed her eyes.
Her brother hadn't simply been borrowing her money.
May you like
He had been moving it through a company tied to their dead father.
And suddenly yesterday's brunch felt very different.
