Chapter 3: The Signature That Wasn’t Mine
The attorney placed his folder on the nearest table.
Vivian’s fingers tightened around the envelope.
“Mrs.
Graves,” he said, “you should put that down.
It belongs to Emma.”
My name moved through the ballroom in whispers.
Vivian lifted her chin.
“Ellis, this is a family matter.”
“No,” Ellis Ward replied.
“It became a legal matter when you used Emma’s name to secure a four-million-dollar loan.”
I stared at Daniel.
“What loan?”
“Don’t listen to him,” Daniel said.
“Your father paid him to frighten us.”
Ellis opened the folder and removed two documents.
“This is the guarantee filed with North County Bank,” he said.
“And this is Emma’s verified signature from her passport application.
They do not match.”
Vivian gave a short laugh.
“Signatures change.”
“Not the date,” Ellis said.
“Emma was in Toronto when this document was supposedly signed in my office.”
I stepped toward Vivian.
“You accused me of taking your sapphire brooch in front of everyone.
Was that why you searched my purse?”
“You were seen near my private suite.”
“I went there because Daniel asked me to bring you downstairs.”
Daniel reached for my arm.
I pulled away.
“Emma, we can explain this privately.”
“You let your mother call me a thief.
You emptied my purse before two hundred people.
Explain it here.”
Vivian pointed at me.
“She has lived off this family for six years, yet now she wants to act wounded.”
My father’s voice came from the doorway.
“My daughter paid your hotel’s wages twice.”
The guests parted as Robert Mercer crossed the ballroom.
He looked older than he had that morning, but his steps were steady.
Vivian’s smile faltered.
“You had no right to come here.”
“I own the building,” Dad said.
“That gives me at least one.”
Daniel shook his head.
“The Graves family has owned Bellweather House for sixty-two years.”
“Your family owned the company that operated it,” Ellis replied.
“The property itself was transferred when the bank called your loan.”
Dad stopped beside me and held out his hand.
I took it.
“You told me you invested my money,” I said to Daniel.
“Did you use it to cover this?”
Daniel’s eyes shifted toward his mother.
Vivian answered for him.
“Your money became part of the family business when you married Daniel.”
“No,” Dad said.
“It became collateral after you copied Emma’s signature.”
A woman near the stage lowered her champagne glass.
One of Daniel’s uncles stepped back from Vivian.
Vivian tore open the envelope.
“You should not have done that,” Ellis said.
She unfolded the first page, read three lines, and went pale.
Daniel seized it from her.
“What is this?”
“A notice removing both of you from management at midnight,” Dad said.
“The second page orders a full audit of every account connected to this property.”
Vivian ripped the pages in half.
Ellis calmly removed another copy from his folder.
“That was only a courtesy copy.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Tell me you didn’t know.”
He stared at the document until his knuckles turned white.
“Daniel?”
He finally raised his head.
“I knew about the loan,” he said.
May you like
“But Emma, you did sign the guarantee.
I watched you do it.”
