Chapter 7 - MY HUSBAND'S SIGNATURE
Dominic picked up the insurance document with both hands.
“I didn’t sign this.”
Rebecca watched him carefully.
“The policy was executed electronically from your business account.”
“My business account is used by our office.”
Harold stepped forward.
“Which office?”
Dominic looked toward his father.
“Carter Development.”
Harold’s expression hardened.
“I am asking which person had access.”
Dominic hesitated.
“My mother.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Everything inside me turned cold.
Dominic faced her.
“You used my signature?”
“I handled paperwork for you.”
“You forged my name.”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
Nathan laughed from across the room.
“Your family has an interesting definition of dramatic.”
Dominic ignored him.
“How many documents?”
Eleanor did not answer.
Harold looked toward Rebecca.
“Can your team determine whether other policies or financial instruments were executed using Dominic’s credentials?”
Rebecca nodded.
“If he authorizes access.”
Dominic immediately said,
“I authorize everything.”
His mother glared at him.
“Think carefully.”
He turned on her.
“For once in my life, I am.”
That sentence might have mattered to me six hours earlier.
Now it was simply late.
Dominic walked toward me.
“Vivienne, I really didn’t know.”
“I believe you.”
Hope appeared in his eyes.
Then I finished.
“But ignorance is not the same as innocence.”
He stopped.
“You gave your mother unrestricted access to your company accounts.”
“I trusted her.”
“You trusted her after she repeatedly lied about me.”
“That’s different.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“That is exactly the same.”
My father watched us silently.
Dominic lowered his voice.
“I can fix this.”
“You cannot fix what happened.”
“I can try.”
I looked at him.
“Three years ago, your mother called me cheap trash at Thanksgiving.”
He winced.
“You said she had too much wine.”
“I remember.”
“Two years ago, Chloe told your friends I married you for money.”
“I defended you.”
“You told them I had my own job.”
“I thought that was defending you.”
“Last year, Eleanor told me that if I ever had children, she hoped they inherited the Carter ambition instead of my ordinary blood.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“You never told me that.”
“I did.”
His eyes opened.
I remembered the kitchen.
I remembered standing beside the sink crying while he answered emails.
I remembered his exact words.
“My mom says stupid things when she’s stressed.”
Dominic remembered too.
I saw it on his face.
“You did tell me.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Tonight, I asked you for one sentence.”
He looked at me.
“One sentence, Dominic.”
My voice broke for the first time.
“You could have said, ‘Don’t touch my wife.’”
He started crying.
I did not.
“You couldn’t even give me that.”
Across the ballroom, Eleanor whispered something to Chloe.
Chloe suddenly stood.
“I want everyone out.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Police are arriving.”
Chloe stared at him.
“You called the police?”
“No.”
He looked toward the entrance.
“The insurance company did.”
Blue lights flashed faintly through the tall ballroom windows.
People began murmuring.
Eleanor grabbed her purse.
Daniel stepped in front of her.
“Ma’am.”
“I am leaving.”
“You may want to remain until officers speak with you.”
“Move.”
My father said quietly,
“Daniel.”
Daniel stepped aside.
Eleanor smiled victoriously.
Then my father continued.
“Let her go.”
Eleanor walked toward the door.
My father looked toward Rebecca.
“Make sure the police know she is attempting to leave after evidence of insurance fraud surfaced.”
Eleanor stopped.
Slowly.
Then turned around.
My father gave her a small smile.
“Please.”
He gestured toward her chair.
“Sit.”
May you like
She sat.
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