Chapter 5 - VICTORIA’S ONE MISTAKE
Julian rushed downstairs.
Victoria followed.
I stayed several steps behind them.
Two members of Carter-Lane’s internal legal team were waiting in the foyer with the head of corporate security.
Rachel stood between them.
She looked at my cheek.
Then at Julian.
Her expression changed.
“What happened to Elena?”
“She fell,” Victoria said immediately.
Rachel looked at me.
I said nothing.
I didn’t need to.
Julian’s handprint was still visible.
Rachel turned to security.
“Preserve the apartment surveillance access logs.”
Julian exploded.
“You have no authority inside my home.”
Rachel didn’t flinch.
“I have authority over company materials removed from secured premises.”
Her eyes moved toward the blue folder Victoria was holding.
Victoria instinctively pulled it closer to her body.
Another mistake.
Rachel noticed.
“What is that?”
“Personal paperwork.”
“It has Carter-Lane procurement markings.”
Victoria looked down.
Too late.
Julian stepped between them.
“This has gone far enough.”
“No,” I said.
Everyone turned toward me.
“It hasn’t.”
I walked to the dresser upstairs, retrieved the loose page Victoria had missed, and returned.
Julian saw it in my hand.
His entire posture changed.
“Elena, give me that.”
Rachel stepped forward.
I handed it to her instead.
She examined the signatures.
Then she looked at Victoria.
Then Julian.
Finally, me.
“Elena, this signature beside your name isn’t yours, is it?”
I looked down.
There it was.
My name.
Elena Mercer.
The signature resembled mine.
But whoever copied it had made one small mistake.
For years, I had crossed the second stroke of the M in a distinctive way.
My father had taught me to sign like that when I opened my first bank account at sixteen.
The forged signature didn’t have it.
“No,” I said.
“That isn’t my signature.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Victoria whispered his name.
And suddenly I understood why she had grabbed the folder before Julian could.
She wasn’t protecting him.
She was protecting a document she already knew contained forged signatures.
Rachel placed the page inside an evidence sleeve.
Julian stared at his mother.
“What else did you put her name on?”
Victoria looked offended.
“You knew what we were doing.”
“I knew about Ashford. I didn’t know you forged Elena’s—”
He stopped.
Nobody moved.
Julian realized what he had just admitted.
Rachel did too.
So did I.
The room became completely silent.
Then Rachel’s phone buzzed.
She read something.
Her expression hardened.
“There’s another problem.”
Julian swallowed.
“What?”
May you like
Rachel looked directly at me.
“Ashford wasn’t the only company created using Elena’s identity.”
