Chapter 5 - THE SIGNATURE THEY STOLE FROM ME
For one horrible minute, I believed my father had been murdered for money.
I saw Gavin differently.
The expensive suit.
The calm smile.
The way he had been inside our home for years.
I wanted Colonel Reed to say the accusation out loud.
He didn’t.
Instead, he shut the ledger.
“Nora, listen carefully. Your father’s death was a combat loss.”
I stared at him.
“You just said—”
“I said that payment was made two days before he died. I did not say the two events were connected.”
“But route data—”
“Corporate transport routes.”
Gavin exhaled.
Almost smugly.
Reed continued.
“Bennett Aeronautics moved restricted navigation components between facilities. Andrew believed those delivery schedules were being sold.”
Camilla’s shoulders dropped.
“So Gavin didn’t get Andrew killed.”
“There is no evidence of that.”
Gavin spread his hands.
“Finally. A reasonable sentence.”
Reed looked at him.
“There is, however, evidence Andrew suspected you of stealing from his company.”
Gavin’s smile vanished again.
I should have felt relieved.
I did.
My father had died the way I had always been told he died—serving beside his men, not betrayed by someone at home.
But another part of me felt sick.
Because while he was overseas, Gavin had apparently been draining the family he expected to come home to.
Ward appeared in the study doorway.
“I need clarity.”
Nobody answered.
He held the gala sale packet.
“My attorneys are reviewing the transaction remotely. There is a problem.”
Camilla stood.
“What kind?”
He opened the folder.
“This consent.”
He handed it to me.
I saw my name.
Nora Elizabeth Bennett.
The signature looked close.
Not perfect.
But close enough that someone who did not know me might accept it.
Beside it was a date.
Three years ago.
I had been fifteen.
“I never signed this.”
Ward looked at Camilla.
She went pale.
I knew.
Before she said a word, I knew.
“You signed my name.”
Camilla swallowed.
“I signed as your guardian.”
“My name is written there.”
“Gavin said—”
“Stop blaming Gavin for your hand holding the pen.”
My voice cracked across the room.
For once, she had no answer.
Brooke whispered, “Mom?”
Camilla rubbed her forehead.
“He told me the trust required beneficiary acknowledgment. You were a minor. I thought I could execute it.”
“You forged my signature.”
“I was trying to keep the company solvent.”
“You were selling it!”
“I was trying to save what was left.”
“From who?”
Her eyes moved toward Gavin.
He looked disgusted.
“Camilla, do not start rewriting history because you’re frightened.”
She rounded on him.
“You told me the company was drowning in debt.”
“It was.”
“You said the house had to be leveraged.”
“It did.”
Paige picked up another page from Ward’s folder.
“What is this?”
Gavin moved.
Too fast.
Paige stepped behind Reed.
She read aloud.
“Mercer Education Trusts One and Two pledged as secondary collateral.”
Brooke snatched the paper.
“What?”
Camilla stared at it.
“No.”
Gavin said nothing.
Brooke’s voice rose.
“Our college trusts?”
“Temporary collateral.”
“You told me those accounts were protected.”
“They are.”
“This says they’re pledged.”
“Only in the event of default.”
Ward folded his arms.
“And if tonight’s sale fails, default provisions may activate.”
Camilla looked as if he had struck her.
“You used my daughters’ money.”
Gavin’s patience finally broke.
“I used available assets to preserve a collapsing estate.”
“You said you were protecting them.”
“I was protecting all of you.”
“No,” Paige said.
Everyone looked at her.
She held up the page.
“You protected yourself.”
Gavin stepped toward her.
“Don’t speak about things you don’t understand.”
Paige’s chin lifted.
She was still spoiled.
Still sharp-tongued.
But she did not step back.
“I understand my name.”
Ward looked at me.
“The transaction cannot close tonight with disputed consent and restricted assets.”
Relief hit me so hard I almost laughed.
Then he added, “That does not solve the underlying liens.”
My relief died.
“What liens?”
“The residence was pledged months ago.”
I looked at Camilla.
She sat down slowly.
“I thought that was a bridge loan.”
Ward nodded.
“Your brother’s company holds the paper.”
Gavin’s face went still.
Camilla whispered, “You can take the house?”
“If the debt is enforceable,” Ward said, “Mercer Asset Management may seek possession.”
I looked around my father’s study.
The books.
The photographs.
The drawing of us at prom.
I had spent six years waiting to escape this house.
Now someone was trying to take it.
And suddenly I wanted it back.
Not the marble floors.
Not the chandeliers.
What it had been before fear took over.
Colonel Reed reopened the beneficiary schedule.
“There may be another issue.”
Gavin smiled.
“Yes.”
I hated that smile.
Reed read farther.
His eyes stopped.
“What?” Brooke asked.
He looked at all three of us.
“The company control goes to Nora.”
Gavin nodded.
“But the residence trust is different.”
My chest tightened.
Reed continued.
“The house itself was never left to Camilla.”
Camilla closed her eyes.
“It was placed in a family residence trust.”
“For who?” I asked.
Reed looked at me.
Then at Brooke.
Then Paige.
“For all three daughters.”
Silence.
I felt something break open inside me.
“No.”
Brooke whispered, “Andrew left us the house?”
Gavin leaned against the desk.
“He didn’t just leave it to them.”
He looked at Camilla.
“He made all three girls beneficiaries.”
May you like
Then he looked at me.
“And before tonight is over, Nora, you’re going to have to decide whether you want to save the same people who helped make your life miserable.”
