Chapter 8 - JAKE’S SIGNATURE
Jake turned white.
“I never signed anything.”
Mom hung up.
For ten seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Jake punched the wall.
“Damn it!”
I grabbed his wrist.
“Stop.”
“She’s lying.”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Jake, look at me.”
He did.
“We verify everything.”
Daniel already had Rachel searching.
Twenty minutes later, she found it.
A loan guarantee signed by Jacob Carter.
$220,000.
Jake stared at the screen.
“That’s fake.”
Daniel zoomed in.
The signature looked almost perfect.
Almost.
Jake suddenly frowned.
“Wait.”
“What?” I asked.
“That date.”
Three years earlier.
Jake had been twenty-one.
Still living with our parents.
“I remember that week.”
His voice became quiet.
“Dad asked me to sign employment forms because he said I needed to be added to the company health plan.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“How many papers?”
“A stack.”
“Did you read them?”
Jake looked ashamed.
“No.”
Dad hadn’t forged Jake’s signature.
He had hidden a guarantee among ordinary paperwork.
“That can still be challenged,” Daniel said. “Especially if there was fraud.”
Jake rubbed both hands over his face.
“I was an idiot.”
“No,” I said.
“You trusted your father.”
“That’s another word for idiot now.”
Before I could answer, someone pounded on the door.
Not a knock.
A pounding.
Dad.
I knew before I looked.
“Emily!”
Daniel stood.
“Don’t open it.”
Dad hit the door again.
“I know you’re in there!”
Then Mom’s voice.
“Please! We just want to talk!”
Jake laughed bitterly.
“You threatened me ten minutes ago!”
“We were upset!”
Dad shouted, “Open the damn door!”
Daniel was already calling building security.
I stayed behind the door.
“What happened to your chest pain?”
Silence.
Then Dad said, “You think this is funny?”
“No.”
I looked at Jake.
“Actually, a little.”
Dad lowered his voice.
“You’re destroying this family.”
“No. I found out how you paid for it.”
Mom began crying again.
Real or fake, I didn’t care.
Then Dad said something strange.
“You have money now, don’t you?”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
Daniel looked at me.
Dad continued.
“You wouldn’t hire people like Reyes unless you came into money.”
How did he know Daniel’s name?
Nobody had told him.
I stepped closer to the door.
“Who told you about my lawyer?”
Dad didn’t answer.
Then my phone buzzed.
Daniel looked at his own phone at the same time.
His face went hard.
“What?” I whispered.
He showed me the message.
LOTTERY COMMISSION RECORDS WERE ACCESSED THIS MORNING.
UNAUTHORIZED REQUEST.
May you like
Someone was looking for the winner.
And my father already suspected it was me.
