Chapter 3 - The Account Jennifer Never Shared.
Daniel grabbed his phone before anyone else could read more.
It was too late.
Richard had seen Owen Pike's name.
Jennifer had seen the instruction.
And Margaret had seen her son's instinctive fear.
“Call him,” Richard said.
“No.”
“Call Owen now.”
“This is a family matter.”
“No, Daniel.”
“It became a financial matter the moment you signed my name.”
“I never signed your name.”
Jennifer removed a notarized authorization from the folder.
“Who notarized this?”
Margaret whispered, “Daniel's old assistant.”
“What does Elaine know?”
“Nothing.”
“Margaret, you have lied for him enough tonight.”
“I paid Elaine once.”
“You did what?”
“Daniel told me Jennifer had authorized the trust paperwork but needed a witness to confirm an earlier signature.”
Margaret pressed a trembling hand against her chest.
“He said Elaine was refusing because she was afraid of being blamed for an administrative mistake.”
“How much?” Jennifer asked.
“Ten thousand.”
Jennifer opened the folder to a transfer receipt.
“Actually, twelve.”
“The extra two thousand came from an account called M.H. Family Support.”
“That account was mine,” she admitted.
“This is enough.”
One of the security officers stepped closer from the ballroom door.
Now it was becoming clear that Daniel had created overlapping lies for everyone around him.
Claire looked at Jennifer.
“If he forged your signature, did he forge mine too?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To open credit facilities under North Birch Holdings.”
Claire hugged Noah closer.
“I don't own anything.”
“On paper, you owe $480,000.”
“Those debts are secured.”
“By what?” Claire demanded.
“By a property Daniel claimed North Birch owned.”
“What property?”
“Hale Harbor House.”
Daniel stared at the table.
The hotel had belonged to Richard's late sister, Caroline.
After her death, it had been placed in trust until her granddaughter turned twenty-five.
Margaret whispered, “How could he even do that?”
“With a chain of documents designed to look legitimate long enough for a lender not to ask the right question.”
“Who is the lender?”
But Daniel's message from Owen changed the timing.
Richard read the name and swore under his breath.
Jennifer had researched Stonewake.
If the default stood, Stonewake would attempt to seize the collateral.
Richard looked at Daniel with a level of fury Jennifer had never seen.
“You risked Caroline's hotel.”
“I was fixing a temporary cash problem.”
“With forged documents?” Jennifer asked.
“You benefited from that cash problem being fixed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your company was failing last year.”
“I found capital.”
“I stabilized it.”
“You enjoyed the result.”
Her company had received a $200,000 emergency credit injection eleven months ago.
Daniel told her it came from an investor he had persuaded to support her.
Richard's stare shifted to Jennifer.
“Where did that two hundred thousand come from?”
“At last.”
Jennifer felt anger rise, but she forced it down.
She took out her phone and opened the banking records she had downloaded that morning.
The credit injection had arrived from an account labeled Westlake Strategic Partners.
Jennifer searched the folder for the matching name.
“What does that mean?”
Jennifer typed the company name into a corporate database she had saved offline.
Westlake Strategic Partners had been dissolved eight months earlier.
“That account should not exist anymore.”
“Because it held the insurance settlement after Caroline died.”
“How much?”
“Just over three million dollars.”
Daniel stared down at the table.
Richard looked at his son.
“Tell me you did not touch Caroline's settlement.”
Daniel said nothing.
Then Jennifer's phone buzzed.
A new email had arrived from an address she did not recognize.
May you like
The subject line was simple.
YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE WRONG ACCOUNT.
