Chapter 5 - The Woman on the Other Signature Line
The door opened.
Nathan stepped out first.
Gavin stared at him.
Then at Samuel.
Then Maya.
His face changed slowly.
“You set me up.”
“No,” I said. “You did that yourself.”
Gavin looked at Nathan.
For one strange second, neither man spoke.
Sophie's warning burned on my phone.
Don't trust Nathan. He works for Gavin.
Nathan saw the screen.
His face drained.
“Victoria—”
“Don't move.”
Samuel stepped forward.
“What happened?”
I showed him.
Nathan raised both hands.
“She's lying.”
Gavin laughed.
It was the first genuine laugh I had heard from him since this began.
“You really don't know who you're trusting, do you?”
“Be quiet.”
“Victoria, Nathan has been feeding information to me for years.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
Gavin smiled at him.
“Should I tell her?”
“Tell me what?” I asked.
Nathan looked sick.
Gavin sat down again.
“Nathan discovered Eleanor's investigation before she disappeared.”
“I told you that.”
“No. He discovered it because I asked him to watch her.”
I looked at Nathan.
“Is that true?”
He didn't answer.
“Nathan.”
“Yes.”
The room shifted.
“Why?”
“I was thirty-two. I had a new baby. Gavin promoted me. I thought Eleanor was stealing information.”
“You gave Gavin her files?”
“Some.”
“Did you give him the flash drive?”
“No.”
Gavin interrupted.
“He tried.”
Nathan turned on him.
“I stopped working for you when I realized what you were doing.”
“When?”
“After Eleanor disappeared.”
I looked between them.
“What happened to Eleanor?”
Neither answered.
My pulse accelerated.
“What happened to her?”
Nathan finally spoke.
“She didn't disappear.”
“What?”
“She ran.”
“From whom?”
“Gavin.”
Gavin rolled his eyes.
“Drama.”
Nathan stepped toward him.
“You threatened her.”
“I fired her.”
“You told her you'd destroy her career and take everything she owned if she went public.”
“That's called a severance negotiation.”
I stared at my husband.
I didn't recognize him.
Maybe I never had.
“Where is Eleanor now?”
Nathan looked at me.
“Virginia.”
“You know where?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she made me promise.”
Gavin laughed again.
“Wonderful. More secrets.”
I turned on him.
“You don't get to complain about secrets.”
His smile vanished.
My phone rang.
Sophie.
I answered on speaker.
“Why did you warn me about Nathan?”
“Because Gavin used him.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“Used. Past tense.”
Sophie heard him.
“You're with him?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Then ask him about the second signature.”
Maya looked at me.
“What second signature?”
Sophie continued.
“The waiver Victoria found requires two authorizations.”
Samuel grabbed the document.
He had focused on my forged signature.
Now he looked at the second line.
It was partially obscured in the scanned copy.
Maya opened the digital version.
She enhanced it.
A name appeared.
ELEANOR PRICE.
Nathan swore.
“That can't be.”
“Why?” I asked.
“She would never sign it.”
Gavin's expression told me something else.
I turned.
“You knew.”
He said nothing.
“Sophie?”
Her voice shook.
“Eleanor didn't sign it.”
“Then who did?”
“I did.”
Silence.
Sophie began crying.
“Gavin told me it was an employment authorization. He gave me Eleanor's signature file.”
“You forged it?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
The timeline hit me.
Four years.
The same year my father died.
The same year Sophie officially joined Prescott.
The same year Eleanor vanished.
“Why would Gavin need Eleanor's signature?”
Samuel answered.
“Because she was the corporate controller when Henry's original agreement was executed. The waiver required acknowledgment from the controller or successor.”
I stared at Gavin.
“You forged mine and Eleanor's.”
“I forged nothing.”
Sophie made a sound halfway between a laugh and sob.
“You watched me do it.”
Gavin's face hardened.
“Sophie, shut up.”
There it was.
Not denial.
Command.
Sophie stopped crying.
Then she said quietly:
“No.”
Gavin stared at the phone.
“No?”
“No. I spent six years doing whatever you told me because you said we'd leave together.”
My stomach turned.
So there had been an affair.
Maybe longer than I imagined.
Sophie continued.
“You said Victoria was only your wife on paper.”
Gavin glanced at me.
I felt nothing.
That surprised me.
The affair had become a small fire inside a burning building.
“You said Project Phoenix would make us free.”
“Sophie—”
“You said once the assets were moved, you would divorce her.”
“Stop talking.”
“And you said the necklace was mine.”
There it was.
The absurd, glittering object that had started everything.
Gavin had lied even about that.
I spoke.
“Sophie, where are you?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Do you have records?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“All of them.”
Gavin stood so abruptly the chair fell backward.
“You stupid—”
Samuel stepped between us.
“Finish that sentence carefully.”
Gavin stopped.
Sophie continued.
“I kept copies because I knew eventually he'd blame me.”
“Send them to Maya.”
“I already did.”
Maya's laptop chimed.
Files began arriving.
Hundreds.
Then thousands.
Gavin stared at the screen.
For the first time, I saw him understand that he might lose.
He looked at me.
“You think these people are helping you?”
“I think they're helping themselves.”
“Your father poisoned you against me from the beginning.”
“My father is dead.”
“Exactly. And you're letting a dead man destroy our marriage.”
I looked at him for a long time.
“No, Gavin.”
My voice was calm.
“You destroyed our marriage while sitting in a conference room with another woman on your lap.”
He flinched.
Good.
“And you destroyed my trust when you forged my name.”
“I didn't.”
“You destroyed my respect when you stole from your employees.”
“That's not what happened.”
“And whatever is left?”
I stood.
“You destroyed that when you walked into my father's study looking for evidence you thought he had hidden from you.”
Gavin's phone buzzed.
He looked at it.
His face changed.
Maya noticed.
“What happened?”
He put the phone away.
“Nothing.”
Nathan moved toward the window.
Then he saw black SUVs pulling into the driveway.
“Victoria.”
“What?”
“We have company.”
Samuel looked outside.
Three vehicles.
Men and women getting out.
Gavin smiled.
It was small.
Confident.
The old Gavin.
“I told you,” he said. “You have no idea what you're interfering with.”
The doorbell rang.
Then a voice outside announced itself.
“Federal agents. Open the door.”
May you like
Gavin looked directly at me.
And smiled.
