Chapter 2 - The Signature That Wasn't Mine
"What transfers?"
My voice came out sharper than I intended.
Colonel Mercer looked at me.
"You weren't informed?"
"No."
Mom suddenly found her voice.
"This is ridiculous."
She grabbed Sienna's arm.
"We're leaving."
A security officer stepped into her path.
"Ma'am, please remain here."
"You can't hold me!"
"No one's holding you," Mercer said. "We're asking you to stay voluntarily while we clarify a few things."
My mother gave a cold laugh.
"I'm not answering questions without an attorney."
"That's your right."
Mercer's calmness made her even more nervous.
Sienna looked between them.
"Mom, what's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Then why are investigators here?"
"I said nothing."
That was when I knew.
She knew something.
Maybe not everything.
But something.
Mason came to my side.
His fingers brushed mine.
"You okay?"
"No."
I didn't pretend.
His eyes moved to my cheek.
"We should get ice."
"Later."
"Olivia."
"Later, Mason."
He understood that tone.
My father used to joke that I had inherited it from him.
Mercer motioned toward a private conference room beside the ballroom.
"Colonel Bennett, General Reed, I'd like both of you inside."
My mother's head whipped toward me.
"What did he call you?"
Nobody answered her.
Her eyes widened.
"Colonel?"
Sienna actually laughed.
"Wait. What?"
I closed my eyes for half a second.
So much for secrecy.
Mason looked toward Mercer.
"We're doing this here?"
Mercer lowered his voice.
"We have a problem."
Mom stared at Mason.
"And General Reed?"
The room had begun whispering.
Guests who knew the truth looked uncomfortable.
Guests who didn't know were openly confused.
My mother looked from Mason to me.
"No."
Her voice became thin.
"No, that's not true."
Mason faced her.
"My military position wasn't information we could publicly discuss."
"You told me you ran a company."
"My family's company exists. I sit on its advisory board."
Mom pointed at him.
"You lied."
"To protect an active national security assignment."
Then she looked at me.
"You lied too?"
"I followed orders."
"For years?"
"Yes."
She laughed.
But there was no humor in it.
"My own daughter."
"Mom, tonight is not about my job."
"It is now!"
Her voice rose.
"You stood there letting me look like a fool!"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"You slapped me twice."
"Because you provoked me!"
Several people reacted to that.
Mason's face became stone.
Mercer stepped between us.
"Conference room. Now."
Ten minutes later, the door shut behind six people.
Me.
Mason.
Mercer.
CID Special Agent Erin Cole.
My mother.
And Sienna.
Agent Cole opened a folder.
"Three weeks ago, the financial institution administering General Andrew Bennett's survivor trust flagged a withdrawal request for eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
My stomach dropped.
Sienna made a choking sound.
"What?"
Cole continued.
"The request included Lieutenant Colonel Bennett's signature and a notarized authorization."
I looked at Mom.
She wouldn't meet my eyes.
"That wasn't me."
"We know."
"How?"
"The signature failed biometric comparison with verified federal documents."
Mercer slid a copy across the table.
I looked down.
It was good.
Very good.
My signature.
Almost perfect.
But the final loop in Bennett curled the wrong direction.
Dad had taught me to sign my name when I was twelve.
For some weird reason, I had always reversed that final loop.
Whoever created this hadn't known.
I looked at the notary stamp.
Then froze.
"I know this name."
Mason leaned closer.
"Who?"
"Patricia Wells."
Sienna's face went pale.
My mother snapped her head toward her.
That told me everything.
"Sienna?"
She shook her head immediately.
"No."
"You know her."
"No."
"You just reacted."
"Because—"
Mom slammed her palm on the table.
"Stop interrogating your sister!"
Agent Cole's eyes sharpened.
"Mrs. Bennett, perhaps you should let her answer."
Mom folded her arms.
Sienna's breathing changed.
I knew my sister.
When we were children, she twisted the silver ring on her right hand whenever she lied.
She was twisting it now.
"Patricia worked for my real estate broker," she finally said.
"What real estate broker?"
Silence.
"Sienna."
She looked down.
"I bought a condo."
My mouth fell open.
"You told us you were renting."
"It was an investment."
"With what money?"
She looked at Mom.
I slowly turned.
Mom's face had become unreadable.
Agent Cole pulled out another page.
"The first fraudulent withdrawal failed."
"First?" I asked.
"A second request was submitted five days later for four hundred thousand."
My hands went cold.
"And the third?"
Cole watched my mother.
"Yesterday."
Nobody spoke.
"Amount?"
I asked.
"Two point four million dollars."
Even Mason looked stunned.
I stared at my mother.
"Why?"
She said nothing.
"Why would you try to take two point four million dollars?"
"I didn't."
Agent Cole placed a photograph on the table.
Security-camera footage.
A bank office.
A woman seated at a desk.
Beside Patricia Wells.
The woman was wearing sunglasses.
But I knew that coat.
I had bought it for Mom last Christmas.
Sienna covered her mouth.
"Mom?"
Linda Bennett finally looked at me.
And instead of apologizing, she leaned back in her chair.
"You don't understand what your father did."
My heart stopped.
"What does Dad have to do with this?"
Her eyes filled with something I had never seen before.
Not guilt.
Not fear.
Resentment.
"Everything."
May you like
Then she said the sentence that changed the entire night.
"That money was never supposed to be yours."
