Chapter 4: The Signature That Wasn’t Hers
Naomi was waiting when Sienna entered her office the next morning.
She pushed a box of tissues across the desk but did not look away from Sienna’s swollen lip.
“Did you see a doctor?”
“Yes.
I brought the report.”
“Good.
Now look at this.”
Naomi turned her laptop around.
The deed carried Sienna’s typed name, a signature resembling hers, and a notary stamp.
“That isn’t my signature.”
“I believe you.
The bank will require proof.”
Sienna enlarged the page.
“I was in Toronto on that date.”
“Can you prove it?”
“My passport, flight records, hotel bill, and the presentation I gave to three hundred people.”
Naomi’s mouth lifted slightly.
“That is a very inconvenient alibi for whoever forged this.”
Sienna’s phone rang.
Christian’s name appeared.
“Answer it,” Naomi said.
“Put him on speaker.”
Sienna touched the screen.
“What do you want?”
“I want my wife to stop behaving like a stranger.”
“Did you forge my signature?”
“You’re letting a lawyer poison you.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
Christian sighed.
“The condo was supposed to make money.
Mother found an opportunity, and I handled the paperwork.”
“With a false signature.”
“It looks like yours because you agreed.”
“When?”
“You don’t remember every conversation.”
Naomi wrote a note and slid it across the desk: Ask about the debt.
“How much does Desert Crown owe?”
Silence filled the speaker.
“Christian?”
“Investments have temporary losses.”
“How much?”
“Just under nine hundred thousand.”
Sienna’s fingers went cold.
Christian spoke quickly.
“But it’s manageable if you restore the cards and make this month’s transfer.
We only need time.”
“You borrowed nine hundred thousand dollars against my name?”
“Our name.
We’re married.”
Naomi leaned toward the phone.
“Mr.
Hale, this is Naomi Price.
Do not contact my client except through me.”
Christian laughed once.
“Client?
She’s my wife.”
“She is also the victim named in the fraud notice I’m filing today.”
Gwen’s voice burst through the speaker.
“Sienna, don’t you dare disgrace this family!”
“You split my lip and called me ungrateful.”
“I corrected your disrespect.”
“The doctor photographed your correction.”
Christian ended the call.
Naomi immediately dialed the bank’s fraud department.
Within minutes, an investigator named Marcus Reed joined them by video.
“We can restrict new transactions,” Marcus said.
“But I need to warn you about another account.”
Sienna sat straighter.
“What other account?”
“A business credit line opened eleven months ago.
The application includes a power of attorney bearing your signature.”
“I never signed one.”
Marcus held a page close to his camera.
“It gave Christian authority over two personal accounts and your investment portfolio.”
Naomi pointed at the witness line.
“Who certified it?”
Marcus read the name.
“Tessa Hale.”
“Gwen’s daughter,” Sienna said.
Her phone lit up with a message from Tessa.
I heard you canceled everything.
Mother says you’re trying to ruin us.
What is happening?
Naomi held out her hand.
“Don’t accuse her.
Ask what she witnessed.”
Sienna typed: Did you witness me sign a power of attorney last August?
The reply came almost immediately.
No.
Christian brought me a covered page and said it was permission for Gwen’s medical care.
He told me you had already signed.
A second message arrived.
Sienna, what did I put my name on?
Marcus leaned closer to his screen.
“Ask whether she has any messages from him.”
Sienna typed the question.
Three screenshots appeared.
In the first, Christian told Tessa never to discuss the document.
In the second, he promised to pay off her car.
In the third, Gwen wrote: Once Sienna’s signature is accepted, she can’t stop us.
Naomi looked at Sienna.
“Your sister-in-law just handed us conspiracy in writing.”
Before Sienna could respond, her banking app flashed red.
ACCESS RESTRICTED BY COURT ORDER.
Christian sent one final message.
May you like
You should have come home.
Now neither of us gets the money.
