Chapter 3 - THE PAPER I NEVER SAW
For one terrible second, Brenda's confidence reached me.
Derek saw it.
His smile returned.
“You should come back upstairs.”
He spoke softly now.
Almost gently.
“We can discuss this privately.”
I looked at Martin's name on my screen.
“Did I sign anything yesterday that you didn't review?”
“No.”
His answer was immediate.
“You signed the marriage license.”
“The venue agreement.”
“The photographer release.”
“And the trust acknowledgment your father prepared.”
Derek's face changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
Brenda saw it too.
Her eyes snapped toward him.
“What trust?”
There it was.
The first crack.
I almost smiled.
Derek had not told his mother everything.
Martin continued.
“Chloe, whatever Brenda thinks you signed, it wasn't part of the documents I reviewed.”
I looked at Derek.
“What did she mean?”
He shrugged.
“My mother is confused.”
Brenda's mouth fell open.
“I am not confused.”
“Mom.”
“No.”
She walked toward him.
“You told me she signed the spousal authorization.”
Derek's jaw tightened.
“Not now.”
“What spousal authorization?”
I asked the question slowly.
Nobody answered.
I looked around the hallway.
Twenty-two relatives had suddenly become very interested in the floor.
Martin spoke through the phone.
“Chloe, ask him what authorization.”
I did.
Derek stepped closer.
“Turn that phone off.”
“No.”
“This is between husband and wife.”
“We stopped being husband and wife when you tried to access my life insurance.”
His face drained of color.
The silence became enormous.
Brenda turned sharply.
“You did what?”
Interesting.
She did not know about that either.
Derek looked around at his family.
Then back at me.
“You're misunderstanding everything.”
“Then explain it.”
“I was planning our future.”
“By making yourself the beneficiary of my death?”
“It wasn't like that.”
“It was exactly like that.”
I moved toward the door again.
This time Derek did not touch me.
He followed.
“Chloe.”
I kept walking.
“I can explain.”
“You can explain it to my attorney.”
My heels were still stained with oil.
Every step left a faint dark mark across Brenda's polished floor.
The sight gave me an absurd satisfaction.
At the back entrance, I realized my escape problem remained.
No keys.
No car.
No taxi waiting.
Then headlights swept across the courtyard.
A black sedan pulled through the gates.
Martin.
He had been closer than I realized.
The car stopped ten feet away.
He stepped out carrying a leather folder.
Derek looked stunned.
“You came here?”
Martin ignored him.
He walked directly to me.
“Are you physically safe?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone prevent you from leaving?”
I looked at Derek.
“He locked me in the bedroom.”
Martin wrote something down.
Derek laughed nervously.
“It was a private marital argument.”
Martin stared at him.
“Locking someone in a room to prevent them from leaving has a different name.”
Brenda stepped forward.
“You lawyers love exaggerating.”
Martin opened the folder.
“No, Mrs. Matthews.”
“I prefer documentation.”
He removed several pages.
Derek's expression hardened.
“What is that?”
“The report from the forensic review Chloe authorized two hours ago.”
I blinked.
Martin looked at me.
“I started it after the first security alert.”
He handed me the papers.
The first page contained login records.
The second contained search history recovered from an account Derek and I shared for wedding planning.
The third contained a list of financial questions.
How long must a marriage last before spouse can claim inheritance?
Can spouse challenge separate property trust?
How to become life insurance beneficiary after marriage?
Then I reached the fourth page.
My entire body went cold.
There was a scanned document.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
But I had never seen it before.
The heading read:
SPOUSAL BUSINESS AUTHORIZATION AND POWER OF ATTORNEY.
Derek had forged my signature.
And according to the date printed beside it, he had done it three days before our wedding.
Martin pointed to the final paragraph.
“This is what Brenda was talking about.”
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
If accepted, the document would have given Derek authority over portions of my business interests during any period in which I was declared medically incapacitated.
I looked up.
Brenda was no longer smiling.
Derek was.
That frightened me.
Because his expression said one thing clearly.
He still believed he had another card to play.
Then he reached into his jacket.
May you like
And pulled out my car keys.
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