Chapter 5 - ADRIAN’S SECRET SIGNATURE
Elena locked herself inside her bedroom.
She enlarged the photograph on her phone.
The missing envelope lay on a wooden desk beside a fountain pen.
Only one corner of the document was visible.
A notary stamp appeared near the bottom.
Elena recognized the date.
It was the night before Margaret Hartley died.
Someone knocked.
“Elena, open the door.”
Adrian’s voice sounded tired.
She sent the photograph to her private email before unlocking the door.
Adrian stepped inside.
He removed his jacket and placed it over a chair.
The remaining cuff link shone at his wrist.
Elena held up her phone.
“What did you sign?”
Adrian stared at the photograph.
His expression gave her the answer before he spoke.
“Where did you get that?”
“Tell me the truth.”
He walked toward the window.
“Grandmother asked me to witness a document.”
“What document?”
“I did not read it.”
“You signed something that affected my house without reading it?”
“She was dying.”
“She said it would protect all of us.”
Elena’s voice trembled.
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because she made me promise.”
“Margaret has been dead for two years.”
Adrian turned around.
“Some promises do not disappear when someone dies.”
Elena looked at the man she had trusted for eleven years.
“Did the document take the estate away from me?”
“I do not know.”
“You are lying.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I knew there was an amendment to the will.”
“I did not know what it contained.”
“Victoria knew.”
“Victoria guesses.”
“She does not know anything.”
Elena remembered the way Victoria had smiled inside the vault.
“She knows enough to frame me.”
Adrian’s shoulders sagged.
“My sister has debts.”
“How much?”
“Almost two million dollars.”
Elena stared at him.
“She told me it was a business loss.”
“It is worse.”
“She borrowed money against property she did not own.”
“This property?”
Adrian did not answer.
Elena felt cold.
“You helped her.”
“I tried to stop the lenders from taking the estate.”
“You cannot borrow against my house.”
“Not without your signature.”
Elena remembered the forged note given to Marcus Bell.
“How many times has my signature been forged?”
Adrian looked toward the door.
Before he could answer, someone screamed downstairs.
Elena and Adrian ran toward the study.
Detective Mason stood beside the desk.
Victoria was holding an open laptop.
On the screen was a bank transfer from Elena’s private account.
Eight hundred thousand dollars had been sent to Marcus Bell three months earlier.
The authorization contained Elena’s password and digital signature.
Victoria looked at the detective.
“She did not just steal jewelry.”
“She paid someone to make it disappear.”
Elena studied the transfer.
Then she noticed the destination code.
It was not Marcus Bell’s personal account.
May you like
It belonged to Hartley Development Group.
Adrian’s company.
