Chapter 7 - The Other Signature
The ballroom became silent again.
Robert gripped the phone.
“Who else?”
Caleb hesitated.
“I should not discuss this over speaker.”
Robert looked around.
“Too late.”
Daniel backed away from the table.
That movement told me more than his words.
He knew.
“Who?” Robert demanded.
Caleb exhaled.
“Patricia.”
Every head turned.
Daniel’s mother did not move.
I thought Caleb had made a mistake.
Patricia’s face was shocked.
“What?”
Robert stared at his wife.
“Patricia?”
“I never asked him for custody papers.”
Daniel said quickly, “Mom, don’t.”
Her head snapped toward him.
“What did you do?”
Caleb continued through the phone.
“The request came from Patricia’s email address.”
Patricia pulled her phone from her handbag.
“I did not send anything.”
“Three emails,” Caleb said.
“Two weeks apart.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Patricia looked at him.
Something changed in her expression.
Not confusion anymore.
Recognition.
“You know my password.”
Daniel said nothing.
“You set up my email when I bought my new phone.”
Still nothing.
Patricia’s voice broke.
“You used my account?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“It was necessary.”
Robert looked ready to strike him.
I had never seen him so furious.
“You tried to make it look like your mother was helping you take Lily?”
“I needed family support.”
“You forged it.”
“I did not forge anything.”
“You impersonated your mother.”
Daniel looked around at everyone.
He seemed to realize there was no path left except justification.
So he took it.
“You all think I’m some monster.”
Nobody answered.
“I was protecting my future.”
Chloe stared at him.
“Your future?”
“Yes.”
His eyes landed on me.
“Jennifer was going to divorce me.”
I blinked.
“When did I tell you that?”
“You didn’t have to.”
His voice became bitter.
“You changed.”
I nearly laughed.
“I was pregnant.”
“You became suspicious.”
“Because you were having an affair.”
“You became cold.”
“Because you were lying to me.”
He slammed his palm on the table.
“You see?”
Several guests jumped.
“This is exactly what I mean.”
David stepped between us.
“Do not raise your voice at her again.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Get out of my family.”
David did not move.
“I represent your wife.”
Daniel’s eyes flashed.
Then Patricia suddenly lifted her phone.
“I found the emails.”
Everyone turned.
Her hands trembled.
“There are three.”
She opened the first.
Then the second.
Then she frowned.
“What?”
Robert stepped beside her.
“What is it?”
Patricia enlarged something on the screen.
“The attachments.”
She looked at me.
“They’re not only about custody.”
She handed me the phone.
The email contained a draft document titled:
PETITION FOR EMERGENCY TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP OF LILY CARTER.
Below it was another file.
PROPOSED FINANCIAL POWER OF ATTORNEY – JENNIFER CARTER.
And beneath that was a third attachment.
A medical form.
My name was already typed at the top.
May you like
The blank signature line at the bottom was waiting for me.
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