Chapter 2 - My Name on His Debt
For several seconds, I could hear nothing except the soft instrumental music still playing through the ballroom speakers.
Daniel stared at the loan application.
I stared at Daniel.
Robert took the page from between us.
“What is this?”
Daniel grabbed for it.
Robert pulled it away.
“Give me that.”
“Answer me first.”
“It’s a business document.”
“It has Jennifer’s name on it.”
Daniel looked at me.
For one reckless second, I saw the calculation in his eyes.
He was deciding how much I knew.
That one expression told me more than any confession could have.
I folded my arms.
“You have about thirty seconds to decide whether you’re going to lie again.”
Margaret looked between us.
“Jennifer, what exactly are you accusing him of?”
“I’m not accusing him yet.”
I pointed to the signature.
“I’m asking why my name is on a $180,000 loan application I have never seen before tonight.”
Robert reread the page.
“Daniel?”
Daniel ran one hand over his mouth.
“This is ridiculous.”
Emma stepped closer.
“Is her signature real?”
“No.”
I answered before he could.
Daniel glared at me.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know what my own signature looks like.”
“It was electronic.”
“I never electronically signed it either.”
Margaret touched Daniel’s arm.
“Tell them.”
He pulled away.
“I’m trying.”
“No.”
Robert’s voice was harder now.
“You’re trying to find a story.”
Daniel looked furious.
His father had rarely challenged him publicly.
That afternoon, Robert had spent almost an hour bragging about his son’s promotion.
He had told anyone who would listen that Daniel was building a successful consulting business on the side.
He had toasted him twice.
Now he was holding a document suggesting that the successful side business might have been funded with a fraudulent loan in his daughter-in-law’s name.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Jennifer knew I was exploring financing.”
“I knew you wanted a twenty-thousand-dollar line of credit.”
He looked at me.
“I never authorized $180,000.”
“It was for the company.”
“My name isn’t on your company.”
“It was going to benefit the family.”
“You mean Chloe?”
His expression darkened.
“This is why we shouldn’t be having this conversation in public.”
I leaned closer.
“You should have thought about that before you used my identity in private.”
He grabbed my wrist.
It happened quickly.
Not violently enough to knock me down.
But hard enough that several people saw.
Michael crossed the room immediately.
“Let her go.”
Daniel released me.
“I barely touched her.”
I looked at the red marks forming around my wrist.
My mother stood.
“Jennifer.”
“I’m okay.”
My brother positioned himself beside me.
Daniel’s eyes flashed.
“This is between me and my wife.”
Michael’s voice stayed low.
“Your wife told you not to touch her.”
The banquet manager disappeared through the side door.
I suspected she was calling hotel security.
Daniel seemed to realize the scene had moved beyond his control.
He straightened his jacket.
Then he put on the expression he used whenever he wanted everyone to believe he was the most rational person in the room.
“All right.”
He nodded.
“Fine.”
He looked around.
“Everyone wants the truth?”
Nobody answered.
“I helped Chloe because she was in trouble.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel continued.
“She was pregnant.”
Robert stared at him.
“You had an affair?”
Daniel hesitated.
That hesitation was answer enough.
Margaret whispered his name.
Daniel looked irritated.
“She was going through a terrible divorce.”
I laughed softly.
“That is not an answer.”
“She had nobody.”
“You had a pregnant wife.”
“I know that.”
“Did you?”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Because while I was carrying Lily, you told another woman you wished you were with her.”
Daniel looked away.
I could see his coworkers shifting near the bar.
His supervisor whispered to his wife.
Daniel noticed that too.
“I made mistakes.”
He finally said it.
“I’m not pretending I didn’t.”
“Did you forge my signature?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Too immediate.
I removed another page from the folder.
“Then explain this.”
It was a bank form showing the account where the loan funds had been deposited.
The account belonged to Mercer Strategic Solutions.
Daniel’s private consulting company.
The deposit had been made three months earlier.
$180,000.
Within forty-eight hours, $60,000 had been transferred somewhere else.
Robert read the page.
“Where did sixty thousand dollars go?”
Daniel’s lips pressed together.
Margaret whispered.
“Daniel?”
I watched him.
He still wasn’t looking at the papers anymore.
He was looking toward the ballroom doors.
That frightened me.
Not because I thought he would run.
Because I thought he was waiting for someone.
The doors opened.
Two hotel security officers entered.
Daniel’s shoulders relaxed for half a second.
Then a third person stepped in behind them.
Rachel Morgan.
My attorney.
Daniel’s expression collapsed.
Rachel was in her early forties, calm, precise, and dressed as though she had walked directly out of a courtroom.
She carried a slim leather case.
“Jennifer.”
I nodded.
“Rachel.”
Daniel stared at me.
“You invited your lawyer to our daughter’s baptism?”
“No.”
Rachel answered for me.
“She called me after you attempted to move money this afternoon.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“What?”
Rachel stopped beside my chair.
“At 4:38 p.m., someone logged into Mercer Strategic Solutions and initiated two transfers.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“That’s my company.”
“One transfer was for $72,000.”
She continued.
“The other was for $46,500.”
Robert stared at his son.
“To where?”
Rachel opened her case.
“An account under the name C. Bennett.”
I didn’t recognize the surname at first.
Then I remembered.
Chloe Bennett.
Her maiden name was Foster.
Bennett was the name of the husband she was supposedly divorcing.
I looked at Daniel.
“You were transferring more money to Chloe tonight?”
“No.”
Rachel raised one eyebrow.
“The request came from your authenticated business login.”
“That doesn’t mean I did it.”
“It came from the hotel’s Wi-Fi network.”
The entire table went silent.
Daniel’s phone was in his hand.
Rachel looked at it.
“And the two-factor verification was approved from the number ending in 1174.”
Robert spoke quietly.
“That’s Daniel’s number.”
Daniel turned toward me.
“You had me monitored?”
“I didn’t have to.”
Rachel answered.
“The bank flagged the transfer because of the pending restraining order.”
Daniel pointed toward me.
“This is insane.”
“No.”
Rachel’s voice remained calm.
“What would have been insane was allowing you to empty an account after your wife filed for divorce.”
Margaret sank into her chair.
“This can’t be happening.”
Daniel walked several steps away.
I watched him put both hands on his hips.
He had always done that when cornered.
Then he turned back.
“All right.”
He pointed at Rachel.
“You want everything disclosed?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
He looked at me.
“You want to destroy this family?”
I said nothing.
He nodded toward Lily.
“Remember that when this gets ugly.”
Michael moved forward.
“Don’t use the baby.”
Daniel ignored him.
“You think a few screenshots make you powerful?”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I think evidence makes lying harder.”
His smile was cold.
“You have no idea what you’ve started.”
Rachel leaned slightly toward me.
“Jennifer, I think you and Lily should leave now.”
Daniel heard her.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You don’t control that decision.”
Daniel laughed.
It was a strange laugh.
Not amused.
Almost desperate.
“You’re right.”
He reached into his jacket.
Michael tensed.
Daniel pulled out his phone.
Then he tapped the screen several times.
My phone vibrated.
I looked down.
An email had arrived.
No subject line.
The sender was an address I didn’t recognize.
The attachment was a PDF.
Daniel watched me open it.
Then he smiled.
“What did you do?”
He said nothing.
I opened the document.
My stomach tightened.
It was a signed agreement.
At the top were the words:
POSTNUPTIAL MARITAL ASSET AGREEMENT.
My name appeared throughout the document.
So did Daniel’s.
According to the agreement, I had voluntarily waived any claim to Mercer Strategic Solutions.
I had waived rights to several investment accounts.
I had accepted responsibility for certain marital debts.
And I had agreed that Daniel would receive primary occupancy of our home if we separated.
At the bottom was a notarized signature.
Mine.
Except once again, I had never signed it.
Rachel took my phone.
Her expression changed.
“Where did this come from?”
Daniel’s smile returned.
“You lawyers love paperwork.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Who notarized this?”
Daniel shrugged.
“It’s legal.”
She zoomed in.
I saw the notary’s name.
My breath stopped.
The name was painfully familiar.
Margaret Mercer.
I looked at my mother-in-law.
She stared at the screen.
Then at Daniel.
Then at me.
Her face became gray.
“That’s impossible.”
Daniel turned toward his mother.
For the first time, he looked nervous in a completely different way.
Margaret stood slowly.
“I never notarized this.”
Daniel said nothing.
Her voice rose.
“I said I never notarized this.”
I looked at Daniel.
He had forged my signature.
And apparently his mother’s too.
But before anyone could speak again, Margaret looked down at the date on the document.
Her hand began trembling.
“Oh my God.”
Robert stood beside her.
“What?”
She pointed to the date.
“That night.”
“What night?”
Margaret stared at her son.
“The night Daniel came to our house with papers and said Jennifer was too sick from the pregnancy to come herself.”
Daniel’s expression emptied.
Margaret covered her mouth.
Then she whispered the sentence that changed the entire room.
May you like
“I gave him my notary stamp.”
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