Chapter 3 - The Signature That Could Steal a Daughter|
For several seconds, I couldn't understand what Raymond had just said.
A company could be stolen.
Money could disappear.
Documents could be forged.
But a daughter?
I looked at Lily, whose frightened eyes were fixed on her uncle.
She was standing so close to me that I could feel her trembling through my uniform.
Gabriel slowly lowered himself into the chair at the head of the table.
It was the first time I had seen him sit down since Raymond locked the doors.
And somehow, that frightened me more than if he had shouted.
"Show me the document," Gabriel said.
Raymond smiled.
"Gladly."
He took a folded packet from inside his jacket and slid it across the polished table.
Gabriel opened it.
I watched his eyes move down the first page.
Then the second.
Then the third.
His expression became colder with every line.
Cassandra stood near the fireplace, twisting her engagement ring.
Victor Hale moved cautiously toward Gabriel.
"May I see that?"
Raymond immediately raised a hand.
"Stay where you are."
Victor stopped.
Gabriel placed one finger against the bottom of the document.
"This isn't the authorization I signed."
Raymond shrugged.
"It carries your signature."
"The page was substituted."
"Prove it."
Gabriel looked up.
"You've added a provision claiming I voluntarily surrendered executive authority due to a medical impairment."
Raymond spread his hands.
"Your own doctors have expressed concerns about your stress."
"My doctors?"
Cassandra suddenly looked away.
Gabriel turned toward her.
"What did you tell them?"
She whispered, "I was worried about you."
"You told them I was mentally incapable?"
"No."
Raymond chuckled.
"Not exactly."
He reached for his phone.
"She simply explained that your judgment had become erratic, that you were neglecting family responsibilities, and that your emotional attachment to certain employees had begun affecting your decisions."
My stomach tightened.
Certain employees.
Me.
Gabriel looked at Raymond with disgust.
"You involved Natalie."
"She's remarkably useful."
I felt every guest looking at me.
Heat rushed into my face.
Cassandra had spent months telling me that Gabriel was suspicious of the household staff.
Now I understood why.
She had been creating a story.
A story in which Gabriel was unstable.
A story in which Lily was emotionally disturbed.
And a story in which I was somehow responsible for both.
Victor adjusted his glasses.
"A private agreement cannot simply remove a parent's custody rights."
Raymond's jaw tightened.
"I didn't say it could."
"Then stop frightening the child with legal nonsense."
Several guests murmured in agreement.
Victor continued.
"An emergency guardianship petition requires judicial scrutiny."
Gabriel stared at his brother.
"And you intended to manufacture the evidence."
Raymond said nothing.
That silence answered everything.
Cassandra suddenly stepped forward.
"Gabriel, we can still fix this."
He looked at her.
She began speaking rapidly.
"Raymond exaggerated things."
"Did he?"
"I only wanted you to take some time away."
"Away from my company?"
She swallowed.
"And from some of the stress at home."
Gabriel glanced toward Lily.
"From my daughter."
Cassandra said nothing.
His voice became quiet.
"That's what this was always about."
She looked furious now.
"You have no idea what it's like living in a house where a dead woman is treated like a saint."
Lily flinched.
Gabriel stood.
"Do not mention my wife again."
Cassandra laughed bitterly.
"Your late wife."
His hands curled against the table.
"Her name was Elena."
The room went silent.
"She was Lily's mother."
Cassandra opened her mouth.
Gabriel raised one finger.
"And whatever happened between us before she died, you will not use her memory to hurt our daughter."
I looked at him in surprise.
There was pain in his voice.
Not the polished grief of a man speaking at a memorial.
Real pain.
The kind that never entirely disappeared.
Lily whispered, "Daddy, you still love Mommy?"
Gabriel turned toward her.
His expression softened immediately.
"I will always love the part of our life that gave me you."
Lily began crying again.
But this time, she moved toward him.
He knelt and held her.
For several moments, nobody spoke.
Then Raymond slammed his hand against the table.
"Enough!"
Lily jumped.
Gabriel rose slowly.
"You're finished frightening her."
Raymond pointed toward the security screen.
"I still control the people outside."
Gabriel looked at the monitor.
"Do you?"
Raymond grabbed his phone.
He dialed someone.
"Marcus, answer me."
Silence.
He dialed again.
Nothing.
A third time.
Straight to voicemail.
Gabriel watched him.
"Marcus Bell hasn't worked for me in six months."
Raymond's face changed.
"What?"
"He was dismissed for selling confidential information."
Raymond looked toward the screen again.
The black vehicles were still outside.
The men beside them were still standing in place.
I couldn't tell whether they were loyal to Raymond or Gabriel.
And neither, apparently, could Raymond.
Gabriel spoke toward the ceiling.
"Daniel, secure the exterior and keep everyone away from the east wing."
"Understood, sir," came the reply.
Raymond hurried toward the doors.
He pressed the release.
Nothing happened.
He pressed it again.
The lock remained engaged.
His breathing quickened.
Gabriel's voice stayed calm.
"You locked us in."
Raymond turned.
Gabriel gestured toward the guests.
"You're going to unlock those doors."
Raymond shook his head.
"Not until you sign the remaining papers."
Gabriel stared at him.
"You think holding thirty-two witnesses in my dining room will help you?"
Raymond's eyes flickered.
"They'll understand this is a private family matter."
Victor laughed once.
"There is nothing private about unlawful confinement."
Raymond looked furious.
He turned toward Cassandra.
"Do something."
She stared at him.
"Me?"
"You started this."
Her expression twisted.
"I started this?"
Raymond pointed at Gabriel.
"You wanted the Romano name."
Cassandra's face went white.
"You promised me security."
"You wanted his money."
"You wanted his company!"
The words exploded into the room.
Raymond froze.
Cassandra froze.
And thirty-two witnesses heard every syllable.
Gabriel looked between them.
Then he said, "Thank you."
Cassandra blinked.
"For what?"
"For finally telling the truth."
Raymond lunged toward the table.
Gabriel moved instantly.
But before either man reached the other, a loud knock sounded from the dining room doors.
Three sharp knocks.
Then a voice.
"Mr. Romano?"
It was Daniel.
Gabriel's shoulders relaxed slightly.
"Open the doors."
Raymond backed away.
"No."
Daniel spoke again.
"Mr. Romano, I need you to step clear."
The lock clicked.
The doors swung inward.
Three uniformed security officers entered.
Behind them stood a woman I recognized from Gabriel's office.
Marianne Cole.
His chief financial officer.
She wore a navy business suit and carried a leather briefcase.
Her expression was grim.
"Gabriel."
He turned.
"Marianne."
She glanced at Raymond.
Then Cassandra.
Then the documents on the table.
"I came as soon as Daniel called."
Raymond tried to compose himself.
"Marianne, this is a misunderstanding."
She opened her briefcase.
"No."
She removed a sealed envelope.
"It's considerably worse than that."
Gabriel frowned.
"What is it?"
She handed him the envelope.
"Copies of the wire-transfer instructions we discovered this afternoon."
Raymond stepped backward.
Marianne continued.
"Someone attempted to move forty-eight million dollars from Romano Holdings into a trust controlled by a newly registered entity."
Victor reached for the paperwork.
"Who controls the trust?"
Marianne looked at Raymond.
Then she looked at Cassandra.
"Both of them."
A horrified murmur spread through the room.
Cassandra shook her head.
"That's impossible."
Marianne lifted another page.
"Your signatures appear on the registration forms."
Raymond snapped, "Those documents are confidential."
Marianne stared at him.
"Not anymore."
Gabriel slowly closed the envelope.
"Call the police."
Raymond's face drained.
"Gabriel, don't be ridiculous."
"Daniel."
"Already contacted, sir."
Cassandra began backing toward the open doors.
A security officer stepped aside to block her exit.
She looked directly at me.
And suddenly, her expression changed.
It was no longer panic.
It was calculation.
"Natalie," she said softly.
I felt the room turn toward me.
"Tell Gabriel what you saw yesterday."
I stared at her.
"What?"
She approached one step.
"Tell him about the folder."
My heart started pounding.
I remembered bringing coffee to Gabriel's office.
I remembered Cassandra leaning over the documents.
But there was something else.
Something I hadn't thought about until that moment.
When I entered the office, Gabriel's pen had been on the desk.
And Cassandra was holding a second pen.
One with a small silver cap.
Cassandra looked at Gabriel.
"Your maid was in the office when the papers were changed."
Gabriel remained silent.
She continued.
"She had access to everything."
Raymond watched her.
Then he smiled.
It was a terrible smile.
"Well, well."
He looked at me.
"Perhaps we found the person responsible."
I shook my head.
"No."
Cassandra lifted her chin.
"She's been desperate for money."
My stomach dropped.
"That's not true."
"Her father's hospital bills."
Gabriel turned sharply.
"Cassandra."
She ignored him.
"She has every reason to steal."
I felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath me.
For fourteen months, I had worked honestly.
I had cleaned rooms, washed dishes, folded laundry, and comforted a little girl who needed someone to listen.
And now the woman who had terrorized that little girl was trying to destroy me.
Gabriel looked directly into my eyes.
"Natalie."
My throat tightened.
"Yes, sir?"
"Did you alter any documents in my office?"
"No."
He nodded once.
"Then that's settled."
Cassandra laughed.
"You're simply going to believe her?"
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Until someone produces actual evidence against her, yes."
I almost cried.
But Raymond suddenly lifted his phone.
"Then perhaps you'd like to see this."
He pressed the screen.
A security video appeared on the fireplace monitor.
It showed me entering Gabriel's office.
Carrying coffee.
Standing near his desk.
And then, impossibly, reaching for the blue folder.
My breath stopped.
Because I remembered that moment.
I had picked up the folder.
But only because Cassandra had knocked it off the desk.
She had asked me to retrieve it.
On the screen, however, Cassandra was nowhere to be seen.
The footage had been cropped.
And the timestamp was missing.
Raymond smiled.
"Looks rather convincing, doesn't it?"
Gabriel stared at the screen.
Then he turned toward me.
"Natalie."
I could barely speak.
"Yes?"
"Tell me exactly what happened."
I swallowed hard.
And that was when I remembered the silver-capped pen.
The pen Cassandra had slipped into her handbag.
The pen with Gabriel's initials engraved on its side.
I looked at his fiancée.
Then at Raymond.
And suddenly, I understood something horrifying.
They hadn't simply planned to steal Gabriel's company.
They had planned to make me responsible for it.
Even if their larger scheme failed.
But Cassandra had made one mistake.
Yesterday, when she dropped the folder, she hadn't noticed Lily standing in the hallway.
And when I looked toward the doorway, the little girl spoke.
"Daddy?"
Gabriel turned.
Lily wiped her cheeks.
"I saw something yesterday."
Cassandra went completely still.
Lily looked at me.
May you like
Then at her father.
And whispered, "I know where Cassandra hid the real papers."
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