Chapter 3 - THE SIGNATURE THAT WASN'T MINE|
Luca read the document three times before he spoke.
I stood beside the dining table with Lily sleeping against my shoulder, and every second of silence made my heart beat faster.
There was my name.
There was my signature.
And there was a paragraph claiming I had voluntarily accepted a living arrangement that would keep me away from my daughter.
"Emily," Luca finally said, "are you absolutely certain you didn't sign this?"
I looked at him.
"Sir, I would remember agreeing to live apart from my child."
He nodded immediately.
"You're right."
Then he turned toward Mrs. Carter.
"Where did this come from?"
"Miss Bellini's office delivered the revised agreements last Tuesday."
Mrs. Carter looked deeply ashamed.
"I was told they were preliminary documents, but these copies arrived marked as completed."
"Who was supposed to explain them to the employees?"
"Vanessa said she was handling that personally."
Luca placed the papers on the table.
"Daniel."
His head of security appeared in the doorway almost immediately.
"Sir?"
"I want every copy of these agreements secured."
Daniel glanced toward the documents.
"And the electronic records?"
"Preserve those too, along with the original files and access history."
Luca's voice hardened.
"Nobody deletes anything."
I was still staring at my name.
The signature looked frighteningly convincing.
The curve of the E was mine.
So was the long downward stroke on the D.
But I knew I had never written those letters on that document.
Then I remembered something.
"Two weeks ago, Vanessa asked me to sign a form about staff parking."
Luca turned toward me.
"What form?"
"She said they were updating employee records."
I swallowed.
"It only had a few lines on it, and she told me to sign at the bottom."
"Did you keep a copy?"
"No, sir."
Mrs. Carter looked toward the folder.
"The signature could have been copied from that form."
Daniel nodded grimly.
"We'll have an independent examiner review it."
Lily stirred in my arms.
"Mommy?"
I immediately looked down.
"I'm here, sweetheart."
She rubbed her eyes.
"Are we going home?"
"Yes, baby."
She glanced around the enormous room.
"Do I have to learn how to clean first?"
I felt something inside my chest crack.
"No."
I held her tighter.
"You don't have to earn your way home."
Teresa approached us slowly.
"Emily, let me get you a blanket before you leave."
She touched Lily's cheek.
"She's still very cold."
A short time later, Dr. Bennett arrived and examined Lily in the family sitting room.
He checked her temperature, breathing, hands, and feet while I sat beside her holding her purple backpack.
He told me that her temperature was normal now and that he saw no immediate signs of a serious cold-related injury.
He also gave me clear instructions about symptoms that would require urgent medical attention.
Lily answered his questions politely.
Too politely.
When he asked whether anything hurt, she shook her head even though her fingers were still aching.
I recognized that habit immediately.
My daughter had learned to minimize her needs because she saw how hard I worked to meet them.
That realization hurt almost as much as seeing the forged signature.
After the examination, Luca asked whether we would be comfortable speaking with his attorney the following morning.
"You won't be charged anything," he said.
"And the attorney will explain your options, not make decisions for you."
I nodded, grateful that someone was finally asking what I wanted.
Then he surprised me.
"I also owe you an apology."
I frowned.
"Mr. Moretti, you didn't know."
"I should have known what was happening in my own house."
His expression was painfully serious.
"Having authority doesn't mean much if the people under your roof are afraid to tell you the truth."
I didn't know what to say.
Nobody with Luca Moretti's power had ever apologized to me before.
I gathered Lily's backpack and prepared to leave.
Teresa kissed her forehead and tucked a packet of cookies into the side pocket.
"For breakfast," she whispered conspiratorially.
Lily gave her a tired smile.
"Thank you."
As Daniel drove us toward our apartment, my daughter fell asleep against the seat belt.
I watched Chicago's winter lights blur past the window.
I should have felt relieved.
Instead, I kept seeing the signature.
What frightened me most wasn't the document itself.
It was the confidence of whoever had created it.
Somebody had expected me to obey a decision I had never made.
Somebody had assumed I would be too frightened to challenge it.
And somebody had used my daughter to make that fear unbearable.
When we reached home, I carried Lily upstairs and tucked her beneath her favorite yellow blanket.
She reached for my hand before I could stand.
"Mommy, can you stay until I fall asleep?"
"Of course."
I sat beside her and listened to her breathing become slow and even.
Then my phone vibrated.
It was a message from Daniel.
He apologized for contacting me so late, but said the records team had found something unusual.
The forged employment agreement had been submitted through an employee account assigned to me.
According to the system, I had uploaded it myself.
I stared at the screen.
Then a second message appeared.
Daniel had traced the upload to a computer in Vanessa's private office.
But there was one more detail.
The system also showed that my employee account had been used to request copies of Lily's school and emergency contact information.
And those requests had been made on three separate days.
I slowly looked toward my sleeping daughter.
May you like
Vanessa hadn't simply tried to change my working hours.
She had been collecting information about my little girl without my knowledge.
