Chapter 3: What the Notary Knew
I picked up Caroline's phone before she could reach it.
She lunged forward.
"Emma, give that back—"
"Sit.
Down."
My voice came out low and flat.
Something in it made her stop.
The notary's name on the screen was Raymond Chu.
I didn't recognize it.
But the message preview was visible before the screen locked.
*It's done.
Destroy the copy I gave you.*
I set the phone face-down on the table and looked at Caroline.
"Raymond Chu," I said.
"Who is he to you?"
"He's nobody.
A professional contact."
"A professional contact who is texting you to destroy documents at ten o'clock at night."
Daniel stood up.
"Emma, I think we all need to step back—"
"Sit down, Daniel."
He sat.
That surprised me more than anything else that evening.
Vivian's lawyer, a thin man named Gerald who had been silent in the corner all night, quietly closed his notepad.
He didn't leave.
But he stopped writing.
I looked at the eleven family members still seated around that table.
Aunts.
Uncles.
Two cousins.
Daniel's older brother, Richard, who had said nothing since I'd shown the transfer records.
"I want everyone in this room to understand something," I said.
"Four hundred and eighty thousand dollars was moved out of my personal reserve account six days ago.
The authorization carried my name.
I did not authorize it.
My pre-marital condo was pledged as collateral using a notarized signature.
I did not sign it."
Silence.
"That is wire fraud.
That is forgery.
Those are federal matters."
Vivian's chin lifted.
"You are being hysterical."
"I am being precise." I opened my laptop again and turned the screen so the table could see the transfer record.
"The IP address that initiated this transfer traces to a device registered to Mercer Development Holdings.
I had my IT consultant pull it this afternoon when I first noticed the discrepancy.
I didn't know what I was looking at then." I paused.
"I do now."
Richard spoke for the first time.
"Daniel.
What did you do?"
Daniel's jaw worked.
Nothing came out.
"He didn't do it alone," Caroline said suddenly.
The room shifted.
She looked at her mother.
Vivian's expression didn't change, but her right hand moved under the table.
"Caroline." Vivian's voice was a warning.
"I'm not going to prison for this." Caroline's voice cracked.
"I arranged the notary.
Mother told me it was a formality.
She said Emma had already verbally agreed and just hadn't signed yet.
She said it was a paperwork shortcut."
"That is a lie," I said quietly.
"I know that now." Caroline's eyes were wet.
"I know that now, Emma."
Vivian stood up.
"This conversation is over.
Gerald—"
"Gerald isn't your lawyer tonight," I said.
"Gerald, are you retained by Vivian Mercer personally, or by Mercer Development Holdings?"
Gerald looked at me.
Then at Vivian.
Then back at me.
"Mercer Development Holdings," he said carefully.
"Then you have a conflict of interest.
And I think you know it."
Gerald picked up his notepad and his briefcase.
He looked at Vivian once, briefly, and walked to the door.
She watched him go.
For the first time all evening, something moved behind her eyes that wasn't contempt.
It looked like fear.
"You have no idea what you're doing," she said to me.
"I'm beginning to," I said.
My phone was already in my hand.
I had one contact pulled up — a number I had saved two years ago and hoped I would never need.
A financial crimes attorney named Patricia Hale, who had handled a case for a colleague of mine.
I pressed call and walked out of the dining room.
May you like
Behind me, I heard Daniel say my name.
I didn't turn around.
