Chapter 3 - NATALIE'S SIGNATURE
Natalie Mercer came downstairs ten minutes later.
She was still tying the belt of her gray robe.
Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders, and grief had made her look older than her thirty-four years.
When she saw Dominic, she stopped halfway down the staircase.
“Dom?”
He opened his arms.
Natalie ran the rest of the way.
For several seconds, neither sibling spoke.
Then Natalie pulled back.
“You were supposed to be in London.”
“I changed my plans.”
She looked toward Brooke.
Her face immediately tightened.
“What happened?”
Dominic handed her the papers.
Natalie read the first page.
Then she looked at him.
“I’ve never seen this.”
Dominic nodded.
“I know.”
Her eyes moved downward.
When she saw the signature, she went still.
“That isn’t mine.”
Brooke sighed.
“Natalie, perhaps you forgot.”
Natalie stared at her.
“I forgot signing away my son’s home?”
Brooke crossed her arms.
“You’ve been under tremendous emotional stress.”
Natalie’s face turned pale with anger.
Dominic stepped between them before the argument could escalate.
“Natalie.”
He tapped the signature.
“Did Brooke ever ask you to sign anything related to the cottage?”
Natalie swallowed.
“Three weeks ago.”
Brooke’s eyes changed.
Dominic noticed.
“What happened?”
“She brought me some insurance forms.”
Natalie looked toward Brooke.
“She said the trust needed updated information because Noah was a minor beneficiary.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Did you sign them?”
“Two pages.”
“Did you read them?”
“I thought I did.”
Natalie suddenly looked frightened.
“Dominic, I was exhausted.”
“It was after Noah’s counseling appointment.”
“She kept telling me the forms were routine.”
Brooke shook her head.
“This is absurd.”
Natalie ignored her.
“She took the papers before I finished reading the copies.”
Dominic looked toward Emma.
“Get Victor.”
Emma nodded.
Brooke stepped forward.
“You cannot treat me like a criminal.”
Dominic’s gaze shifted back to her.
“I haven’t decided how I’m going to treat you yet.”
Brooke laughed once.
It sounded nervous.
“You think because a grieving woman misremembered paperwork and a child saw me writing something, you can accuse me of forgery?”
Dominic held up the document.
“I’m not accusing you yet.”
“Good.”
“I’m preserving evidence.”
That silenced her.
Victor Hale entered the breakfast room moments later.
He was Dominic’s head of security and had served the Mercer family for nearly twenty years.
Dominic handed him the folder.
“Photograph every page.”
“Make copies.”
“Then lock the originals in my office safe.”
Victor nodded.
Brooke moved toward the folder.
“You have no right.”
Dominic looked at her.
“It was found inside my house.”
“It concerns my family trust.”
“And it contains my sister’s forged signature.”
Brooke’s composure cracked.
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
Dominic looked toward Natalie.
“But by noon, I will.”
Natalie suddenly sat down.
Emma moved toward her.
Natalie rubbed her temples.
“There’s something else.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
Natalie looked ashamed.
“Brooke has been giving me things to sign for months.”
Dominic went motionless.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
Brooke snapped.
“That is a lie.”
Natalie stood.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
But she kept speaking.
“You always came after Noah was asleep.”
“You said Dominic had asked you to help organize the estate before the wedding.”
“You brought forms about utilities, insurance, taxes, maintenance.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
Natalie looked at him.
“I believed her because she said you sent her.”
Brooke stared at Natalie with pure hatred.
Dominic saw it.
And in that moment, the forged cottage release stopped looking like an isolated act.
May you like
It looked like the first visible piece of something much larger.
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