Chapter 4: What Chloe Heard
Daniel snatched the application from my hands.
“No.
This isn’t real.”
Tiffany folded her arms.
“Of course it isn’t.
Chloe printed it to frame me.”
Chloe unlocked her phone.
“Then explain your voice on this.”
Tiffany moved toward her, but Mr.
Patel raised one hand.
“Stay where you are.”
Chloe pressed play.
Tiffany’s voice filled the space between us.
“Once his mother signs the wedding papers, I can copy the rest.
She never reads anything when Daniel asks.”
Elaine’s voice followed.
“Keep Michael’s signature on the witness line.
Grieving women don’t look closely at their husbands’ names.”
Daniel staggered backward until his shoulders struck a pillar.
“Turn it off.”
Chloe stopped the recording.
Tiffany laughed once, but the sound broke in the middle.
“That could have been edited.”
“It’s forty-three minutes long,” Chloe said.
“Would you like me to play the part where you discussed the house?”
Elaine stepped forward.
“You recorded a private conversation?”
“I started recording after Tiffany told me she could make Daniel’s mother pay for their new life.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Did you give her my financial information?”
He lowered his eyes.
“She said she needed it for the venue.”
“My address?
My house value?
Michael’s old documents?”
“I didn’t know about the loan.”
“That was not my question.”
Tiffany gripped Daniel’s sleeve.
“Don’t answer her.
She’s trying to separate us.”
My knees weakened, and I caught the back of a chair.
Daniel looked up.
“Mom, if you hadn’t made money the center of everything, none of this would be happening.”
The words landed harder than Tiffany’s hand had.
I slowly lowered myself into the chair.
Chloe knelt beside me and placed a glass of water in my shaking hand.
“She is not the one who did this,” Chloe told Daniel.
“You watched your wife humiliate her, and now you’re blaming her for finding evidence.”
“Stay out of my family.”
“I tried.
Your wife brought me into it when she asked me to witness a false signature.”
Tiffany’s face lost its color.
“You said no.”
“I also photographed every page.”
Elaine rushed toward Chloe.
“Delete them.”
“No.”
“I’ll have an attorney take your phone.”
Chloe slipped it into the front of her dress.
“Copies are already with my sister.”
Mr.
Patel touched my shoulder.
“Would you like me to contact security?”
“I want the bank called first.”
Tiffany stared at me.
“If you do that, Daniel will lose everything.”
“What exactly will he lose?”
“Our apartment.
Our future.
His child.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“What did you say?”
Tiffany pressed one hand against her stomach.
“I was going to tell you tomorrow.”
Elaine covered her mouth as if the announcement surprised her, but her eyes remained fixed on me.
Daniel’s anger vanished.
“You’re pregnant?”
“Seven weeks.”
He looked from Tiffany to me.
“Mom, stop this.
Please.”
“The application has already been submitted,” Chloe said.
“Stopping now won’t make it disappear.”
Daniel took my hand.
“If there’s a baby, can’t we handle this privately?”
I pulled my hand away.
“A baby does not make forgery acceptable.”
Tiffany began to cry.
“She hates me more than she loves you.”
“No,” I said.
“I love you enough to refuse to protect you from the truth.”
Mr.
Patel returned with the office phone.
“The bank’s emergency department is on the line.”
I gave the representative my account details and answered three security questions.
The woman’s voice became careful.
“Ma’am, a remote closing was requested for Monday morning.”
“I did not request it.”
“There is also a notarized authorization on file.”
Elaine turned toward the doors.
Chloe pointed at her.
“She’s a notary.”
Mr.
Patel locked the ballroom doors before Elaine could reach them.
The bank representative continued.
May you like
“The authorization was uploaded from a device registered to Daniel Carter.”
Every face in the room turned toward my son.
