Chapter 4: A Mother Stops Protecting Her Son
Eleanor walked into the room holding a worn leather handbag.
Marcus’s face changed before she even reached the table.
“Mother, go home.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
Eleanor placed her handbag beside the documents.
“I understand that my notary seal disappeared from my desk five years ago.”
Chloe looked at Marcus.
“You told me she lent it to you.”
Marcus’s voice sharpened.
“Be quiet.”
Eleanor pulled out her old appointment diary.
“You visited my office two days before the date on that declaration.”
“I visited my mother.
That proves nothing.”
“You asked for the spare key.”
“You gave it to me.”
“I gave it to you because you said you needed insurance papers.” Eleanor’s fingers pressed against the diary.
“The next morning, my seal was gone.”
Marcus laughed, but no one joined him.
“You forgot to tell them the rest, Mother.”
Eleanor went still.
I looked between them.
“What rest?”
“She knew the seal was missing and never reported it.”
Eleanor lowered her eyes.
“That is true.”
“Then she is hardly a reliable witness,” Marcus said.
“Why didn’t you report it?” I asked.
“Because Marcus told me he had borrowed it for an urgent company document.” Eleanor looked at me.
“He promised he had done nothing improper.”
“You believed him?”
“I chose to believe him.
There is a difference.”
Marcus pointed toward the door.
“You’ve embarrassed yourself enough.”
Eleanor stepped closer to him.
“No, Marcus.
I embarrassed myself every time I excused you.”
Chloe sank into a chair.
“I signed some blank forms,” she said.
Marcus spun toward her.
“Chloe.”
“You said they were replacements for old closing documents.”
“Stop talking.”
She looked at me, mascara beginning to gather beneath her eyes.
“He showed me your signature and told me to copy it.
He said you had already approved everything.”
“How many forms?”
“Three.
Maybe four.”
Grace laid six forms across the table.
“There are six here,” she said.
Chloe shook her head.
“I didn’t sign all of those.”
Marcus leaned close to her.
“Think very carefully.
If you accuse me, you admit what you did.”
“You told me it was legal.”
“And you enjoyed the house.”
Chloe’s hand covered her bracelet again.
I pointed to it.
“Was that paid for with company money too?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus smiled without warmth.
“She knew enough to pick it out.”
Chloe stood so quickly that the chair toppled behind her.
“You said it was a bonus.”
“You don’t receive bonuses.
You don’t work for the company.”
My husband’s phone vibrated.
He read the message, and the muscles in his jaw tightened.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The investment committee has called an emergency meeting for nine tomorrow morning.”
Marcus straightened his jacket.
“Good.”
“There’s more,” my husband said.
“I’ve been ordered to step away from the review because of my marriage.”
Marcus’s smile returned.
Grace reached for the phone.
“On what grounds?”
My husband turned the screen toward us.
An email from Marcus had been sent to every member of the investment committee.
Attached was a consulting agreement carrying my name and my husband’s signature.
I read the date twice.
“That says I began working for your investment group before my divorce.”
Marcus picked up his coat.
“Perhaps your new husband should explain why.”
“I never signed that,” I said.
“Then you seem to have terrible luck with signatures.”
My husband blocked the doorway.
“Where did you get this document?”
“From my company records.”
“You put it there.”
“Prove it.”
Chloe stared at the agreement.
“Marcus, what have you done?”
He opened the door and looked back at me.
May you like
“By tomorrow morning, they won’t see an innocent ex-wife.
They’ll see a woman who married the man she helped cheat them with.”
