Chapter 4: The Signature That Wasn’t Mine
I put Grace on speaker.
“Can you come to the hotel?”
“I’m already in the lobby,” she said.
“You told me to stay close if Daniel tried anything.”
Daniel stared at me.
“You brought an attorney to Lily’s baptism?”
“I brought protection to a party you financed with our emergency money.”
Grace entered less than a minute later, carrying a leather case.
She placed her business card beside the folder.
“Daniel, the bank has frozen the transfer.”
“You had no authority to interfere,” he said.
“I represent Jennifer.
She didn’t sign the loan application.”
Daniel folded his arms.
“She did, and she knows it.”
Grace turned to me.
“Did you appear before a notary?”
“No.”
“Did you authorize a home-equity loan?”
“No.”
Daniel pulled the papers toward him.
“Then she forgot.”
Chloe let out a bitter laugh.
“That’s your answer for everything, isn’t it?
A woman disagrees with you, so she must be confused.”
“You accepted my money,” Daniel said.
“Be careful which side you choose.”
“I accepted help because you said you loved me.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Robert looked at his son without blinking.
Daniel leaned toward Chloe.
“You knew I was married.”
“You said the marriage was over.”
“And that made it acceptable?”
“No,” Chloe replied.
“It made me foolish.
What does forging Jennifer’s name make you?”
Daniel snatched the folder and tore the top photographs in half.
Several guests gasped as the pieces fell across the table.
“There,” he said.
“Your little performance is finished.”
Grace opened her case and removed a flash drive.
“Those were copies.”
Daniel’s hand stopped above the remaining pages.
“I have the messages, bank statements, and original files,” Grace continued.
“The bank also has the electronic application.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
He looked at me, not Grace.
“If you file for divorce, I will request full custody.”
“You already planned to.”
“And I will win.
I have witnesses who saw your behavior after Lily was born.”
“What behavior?”
“Crying.
Missing appointments.
Leaving the stove on.”
My mother stepped forward.
“Jennifer never left the stove on.”
Daniel smiled without warmth.
“You weren’t there.”
“No,” a quiet voice said.
“But I was.”
Everyone turned toward Evelyn.
She remained seated, both hands wrapped around her napkin.
“Daniel called me the night he said it happened,” she said.
“He asked me to write down what he told me.”
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“You signed a statement against me?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“He said you might hurt yourself by accident.
He said Lily needed protection.”
“I asked you for help when I couldn’t sleep,” I whispered.
“You used that against me?”
“I thought I was helping.”
Daniel reached for his mother’s shoulder.
“Don’t let Jennifer twist this.”
Evelyn pulled away from him.
Grace held out her hand.
“I need to see whatever you signed.”
“I don’t have it.”
“I do,” Daniel said.
He removed a folded document from inside his jacket and placed it on the table.
“This was filed yesterday.
There’s an emergency hearing tomorrow morning.”
Grace read the first page, then looked at Evelyn.
“Mrs.
Mercer, is this your signature?”
Evelyn stared at it.
“Yes.”
Daniel straightened his cuffs.
“A judge will decide where Lily goes.
Until then, Jennifer should hand her to me.”
My mother held Lily closer.
“You will not take this child.”
Daniel reached for his phone.
“Then I’ll call someone who will.”
Grace’s voice stayed level.
“No current order gives you sole custody.”
“Not yet,” Daniel replied.
A hotel employee approached with another envelope.
“Mrs.
Mercer?”
I accepted it and saw the court seal.
Daniel smiled as I opened the notice.
May you like
“Tomorrow at nine,” he said.
“Let’s see how calm you are when a judge reads what my mother wrote about you.”
