Chapter 4 - NATHAN STARTS TO PANIC
Nathan called me thirty-one times before noon.
I did not answer.
He left seven voicemails.
The first was angry.
The second was defensive.
By the fifth, he sounded frightened.
“Emma, we need to talk about the shares.”
The sixth was even worse.
“There are things you don’t understand about your family.”
Then came the seventh.
“Do not listen to Malcolm.”
I played that one twice.
Maya looked at me.
“That’s interesting.”
“He’s scared of Malcolm.”
“Or pretending to be.”
I wanted to believe Nathan was the mastermind because that would have made everything simpler.
He cheated.
He forged my name.
He planned to take my shares.
Bad husband.
Bad ending.
Divorce him and move forward.
But simple explanations were disappearing quickly.
At 1:15, Nathan appeared outside Maya’s office.
Security refused to let him upstairs.
He waited in the lobby.
I watched him through the building camera.
He looked exhausted.
Celeste was not with him.
Maya advised me not to meet him.
I went down anyway.
Two security officers remained ten feet away.
Nathan stared at the bruise forming along my cheek.
For the first time, shame crossed his face.
“I shouldn’t have hit you.”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“I lost control.”
“You didn’t lose control.”
I kept my voice calm.
“You showed me exactly how much control you thought you had.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I can explain the transfer.”
“Good.”
I folded my arms.
“Start with the forged signature.”
Nathan looked toward the security officers.
Then back at me.
“I didn’t forge it.”
“Who did?”
Silence.
“Nathan.”
“I can’t say here.”
“You can say it to a judge.”
His face tightened.
“You think this is about a divorce settlement.”
“I know it isn’t.”
That frightened him.
I stepped closer.
“What happens Friday?”
Nathan’s breathing changed.
“Emma, listen to me.”
“What happens Friday?”
“Malcolm told me the transfer was legal.”
“You knew I never signed it.”
“He said your trust documents already contained a power provision.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Nathan rubbed both hands over his face.
“He told me if I didn’t have the shares before Friday, we would lose everything.”
“We?”
“Our stores.”
“Our accounts.”
“My company.”
I almost laughed.
“Your company?”
Nathan flinched.
He finally understood why that phrase sounded different now.
“My mother financed your first location.”
“I know.”
“My trust guaranteed your expansion loan.”
“I know.”
“And you still call it your empire.”
“Emma.”
I stepped closer.
“Who forged my signature?”
Nathan looked directly into my eyes.
Then he whispered a name.
“Peter Lang.”
I knew Peter.
He had been my family’s estate attorney for nineteen years.
He prepared my mother’s will.
He handled my father’s death declaration.
And he was the man who had personally explained the trust to me when I turned eighteen.
My phone rang before I could ask another question.
Maya was calling from upstairs.
I answered.
Her voice was sharp.
“Emma, come back up.”
“What happened?”
“I found Daniel Reed.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
“Green Valley Recovery Center shut down eight years ago.”
She paused.
“But one patient transferred from there to a private facility in Vermont.”
I looked at Nathan.
He had heard enough to understand.
His face went white.
Maya continued.
“The patient’s legal name is Daniel Reed.”
May you like
Then she lowered her voice.
“Emma, the photograph in his medical intake file looks exactly like your father.”
