Chapter 7 - The Second Signature
Leah arrived the following morning wearing a black coat despite the heat. She parked two streets away and walked to the house, glancing over her shoulder as though she expected someone to follow.
Elena stared at her daughter for a long time. Then she reached out.
Leah took her hand and began to cry.
“I’m sorry,” Leah whispered. “I should have come sooner.”
Andreas stood in the doorway. “You should have called.”
“I was afraid.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because everyone has a reason.”
“Reasons don’t make secrets harmless.”
Leah looked at Elena. “Mom, do you want him to know?”
Elena lifted the letter board and pointed to YES.
Leah sat at the table. “Dad called me the night he died. He said there had been an accident at the house. He sounded drunk, but he wasn’t. He told me to come alone.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Marina called next. She said Dad was threatening to hurt himself and that you were already on your way.”
“I was at the airport.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Leah lowered her eyes. “She sent me a photograph of Mom asleep. There was a note beside her saying, Don’t make this worse.”
Andreas felt a cold line travel down his back.
“You believed her?”
“I believed she was there with Mom. I believed Dad had become dangerous. I believed silence would protect us.”
“So you stayed away.”
“I called the police anonymously.”
“After he was dead.”
Leah flinched. “I was twenty-seven, Andreas. I didn’t know what to do.”
“You knew enough to lie.”
Elena struck the table. Both of them stopped.
She pointed to Leah, then the notebook, then the study.
“Mom says you helped,” Andreas said.
“I did not help Marina hurt her.”
“What did you do?”
Leah pulled a folded document from her coat. It was a power-of-attorney form naming Marina as Elena's temporary representative.
“I signed as witness.”
Andreas stared at the page. “This is dated four months ago.”
“Marina said it was for medical bills.”
“You didn’t read it?”
“I read it. I didn’t understand the legal language.”
“You signed anyway.”
“Yes.”
The document gave Marina access to Elena’s accounts, medical records, and property decisions. It also contained a second signature, supposedly Elena’s.
Elena snatched the paper, turned it over, and drew a sharp X across the signature.
“You never signed this,” Andreas said.
Elena shook her head.
Rowan confirmed the forgery within hours. She also found that Marina had withdrawn six thousand dollars from Elena's savings account and paid it to a company called Northline Compliance.
“That company is connected to Grady Holt,” Rowan said.
“So Marina was stealing from Mom for Holt?”
“Maybe. Or paying someone to keep quiet.”
The estate lawyer, Miles Venn, arrived without warning. He was thin, elegant, and carried a leather folder.
“You need to vacate the property voluntarily,” Miles said. “The lender has begun foreclosure proceedings.”
“This house is paid off.”
“Not anymore.”
He displayed a mortgage bearing Elena's forged signature and Andreas's real signature from an old college loan application.
“I never signed a mortgage.”
“Your signature says otherwise.”
Elena stared at Miles. Her face changed before anyone else noticed. She reached for the red notebook and turned to a page bearing one word.
VENN.
May you like
The lawyer's composure cracked.
Why had Elena written his name months before anyone knew there was a mortgage?
