Chapter 2 - My Name on the Papers
I went after Adrian.
Daniel blocked me.
“Charlotte.”
“He’s leaving.”
“The police need your statement.”
“Adrian knows something.”
Daniel glanced toward the service corridor.
Adrian had disappeared.
I cursed under my breath.
Marcus heard me.
“You always did have your mother’s temper.”
I turned.
“And you always did mistake patience for weakness.”
The police separated us.
Celeste demanded I be arrested.
Marcus was smarter.
He pretended to protect me.
“There’s obviously been a misunderstanding.”
I nearly admired the performance.
Nearly.
He told the officers I was grieving.
Confused.
Emotionally overwhelmed.
He suggested the entire situation could be handled privately.
Then my attorney walked through the doors.
Samuel Price was seventy-two years old and moved like someone who had spent half a century making powerful men regret underestimating him.
“Nothing involving Ms. Vale will be handled privately.”
Marcus stiffened.
Samuel handed the lead detective a court order.
It had been signed ninety minutes earlier.
Temporary preservation injunction.
No Solmere board member could destroy, alter, transfer, conceal, or remove corporate records relating to the Vale Family Trust.
Marcus read the first page.
“You went to court.”
“I did,” I said.
“You had no authority.”
Samuel answered for me.
“She has sixty-two percent of the voting interest attached to Class A family shares.”
Celeste stared at her father.
“You said she signed those away.”
The entire lobby heard her.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Another mistake.
Samuel turned toward Celeste.
“She signed what away?”
Celeste said nothing.
I looked at Marcus.
“I’d like to know that too.”
Samuel opened another folder.
Inside was a document allegedly signed by me eleven months earlier.
A renunciation of beneficial control.
I had never seen it.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
It was almost perfect.
Almost.
“My God,” I whispered.
Samuel nodded.
“They filed it with the trustees.”
Marcus remained calm.
“You signed it.”
“I was in Argentina on the date this was notarized in Manhattan.”
Celeste looked at her father.
Marcus finally snapped.
“Stop talking.”
That confirmed more than any confession could have.
Samuel turned to the officers.
“We will be filing a criminal forgery complaint.”
Marcus smiled.
“You’re making a terrible mistake.”
“No,” I said.
“My mother made a terrible mistake.”
He stared at me.
“She trusted you.”
For the first time, his composure cracked.
I saw something dark pass behind his eyes.
May you like
Then he said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
“So did you.”
