Chapter 4: The Signature That Should Not Exist
I took the document from Graham.
My name appeared at the bottom in blue ink, every curve painfully familiar.
“I never signed this.”
Brooke folded her arms.
“That is your signature.”
“It looks like mine.
It is not mine.”
Ethan reached for the pages.
“When was this supposedly signed?”
“Six weeks ago,” Graham said.
“It grants Brooke limited authority to negotiate and execute a sale.”
Brooke gave me a thin smile.
“You signed papers at the charity luncheon.
Perhaps you forgot.”
“I signed a donation pledge for the children’s riding program.”
“And several property documents.”
“No.”
Her smile widened.
“Then prove it.”
Graham held the page toward the light.
“Who witnessed this?”
“Marilyn Voss.”
“I know Marilyn,” I said.
“She notarized Jack’s hospital instructions years ago.”
Brooke picked up the navy box.
“She also confirmed this.”
“Put that down,” I said.
“It was meant for me.”
I removed it from her hand.
“It was offered to you.
There is a difference.”
Ethan turned to Graham.
“Can she sell the house with this?”
“If the document is accepted as valid, Harbor Development could create a serious title dispute.
We can challenge it, but that takes time.”
“My closing is Monday,” Brooke said.
“Your closing?” Ethan asked.
She corrected herself too late.
“The closing.”
Graham pointed to another paragraph.
“There is also a seventy-five-thousand-dollar advance.”
Ethan went still.
“Where is that money?”
Brooke looked toward the windows.
“Brooke.”
“It covered expenses.”
“What expenses?”
“Our mortgage, my business, your car payment.”
“My car is paid for.”
“Then consider it compensation for the work I did arranging the sale.”
Ethan pushed the document away.
“You spent money from a house you did not own.”
“I saved us from drowning.”
“What are you talking about?”
She opened her banking app and turned the screen toward him.
Red numbers filled the display.
“My business lost three major contracts.
I used credit to keep up appearances because appearances are how I get clients.”
I gripped the back of a chair.
“You humiliated me to impress people while using my name to rescue yourself?”
“You were going to give us the house anyway.”
“Not anymore.”
Brooke’s expression hardened.
“If you challenge that contract, I will report what Ethan did tonight.”
Ethan’s head lifted.
“You should.”
She blinked.
“I put my hands on you,” he said.
“I was wrong.
I’ll tell the truth about it.”
“You could lose everything.”
“Then I will face what I did.
But you will not use it to take my mother’s property.”
I touched his sleeve.
“You crossed a line tonight, Ethan.”
“I know, Mom.”
“An apology does not erase it.”
“No.
It doesn’t.”
Brooke held up her phone.
“The restaurant has cameras.
One call, and everyone sees him sh0ve me.”
“Make the call,” I said.
“His wrong does not make your wrong right.”
For the first time, Brooke had no immediate answer.
Then her phone buzzed, and she turned away.
“Who is it?” Graham asked.
She read the message and slipped the phone into her purse.
“Nobody.”
Graham’s own phone rang seconds later.
He answered, listened, and looked at me.
“Harbor Development has just filed notice of its interest in the property.”
Brooke walked toward the door.
“You should have given me the key when I asked nicely.”
Then she pressed her phone to her ear.
May you like
“It’s done,” she said.
“File the second claim against the farm.”
