Chapter 6: The Night My Father Died
Laura insisted that Naomi meet us in her office rather than speak over the phone.
“Until we know what she means,” she told me, “we need to avoid making assumptions. If she has firsthand evidence, we document it properly.””
I barely slept that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the photograph of my father and Daniel sitting across the desk, the warning written in Dad's handwriting, and the red notice taped to Mom's front door.
By Sunday morning, my wedding dress was still hanging in the bridal suite, my engagement ring was sitting in a velvet box, and my phone had received seventeen messages from Daniel.
I didn't answer any of them.
At ten o'clock, Rachel drove Mom and me to Laura's office.
Naomi was already waiting.
She wore jeans, a black sweater, and no makeup. Without the pale gold dress and the carefully arranged hair, she looked younger and more frightened than she had in the dressing room.
She stood when I entered.
“Emily, I'm sorry.””
I placed my bag on the chair beside me.
“Don't apologize yet. Tell me what happened.””
Naomi glanced at Laura.
“Can we speak privately?””
“No,” I said.
She looked at me.
“I understand why you don't trust me.””
“Then you understand why we're not doing anything privately.””
Laura motioned toward the chair across from us.
“Sit down, Naomi. Start at the beginning. Tell us only what you personally witnessed or can document.””
Naomi sat.
For a moment, she stared at her hands.
“Three years ago, I was working in accounting at Carter Holdings. I wasn't an executive, but Daniel trusted me with internal records. He said I was good at finding discrepancies.””
“Was that before or during your affair?”” I asked.
She flinched.
“Before.””
“Continue.””
“About six months before your father died, I found payments moving between three companies. The transfers were recorded as consulting fees, but I couldn't find supporting invoices.””
Laura opened her notebook.
“Do you remember the company names?””
Naomi listed three entities. Laura wrote each one down and asked her to spell them.
“Did you report the transfers?””
“I asked Daniel about them. He said they were part of a restructuring and that the documentation would be completed later.””
“And did it get completed?””
“No.””
Naomi swallowed.
“A few weeks later, I found the same pattern in records associated with the Thomas Carter Family Trust. Money that should have been accounted for as trust income was being moved into a company Daniel controlled.””
I leaned forward.
“How much?””
“I don't know the total. I saw transactions adding up to several hundred thousand dollars, but I couldn't determine whether some were reversed later.””
Laura raised a hand.
“We'll need the underlying records before drawing conclusions. Did you retain copies?””
Naomi nodded.
“I saved some emails and spreadsheets on a personal drive. I didn't know what else to do.””
“Where is that drive now?””
“At my apartment.””
“Has anyone accessed it?””
“Not that I know of.””
Laura made another note.
“Now tell us about the hospital.””
Naomi's shoulders tightened.
“The night your father died, Daniel called me shortly after midnight. He told me Thomas was deteriorating and asked me to bring a folder to the hospital.””
“Why did he call you instead of a lawyer?”” I asked.
“He said the folder contained documents that needed to be signed before your father became too weak.””
My mouth went dry.
“What documents?””
“I didn't know. I thought they were business records.””
Naomi rubbed her palms against her jeans.
“When I arrived, Daniel was in the corridor outside your father's room. He looked angry. I'd never seen him that angry before.””
“What did you hear?””
“They were arguing.””
“About what?””
“I couldn't hear every word. But I heard your father say, ‘You don't get to rewrite the agreement because I'm dying.’”
Mom made a quiet sound beside me.
I reached for her hand.
Naomi continued.
“Daniel told him that the company couldn't survive if the trust kept blocking the restructuring. Your father said the company had survived because of his money in the first place.””
Laura looked up.
“Did you see the documents?””
“Yes. Daniel had them in a brown folder. One page had a signature line and a paragraph about transferring voting rights.””
“To whom?””
“I couldn't read the entire name from the doorway, but I saw the words ‘authorized representative.’”
I felt sick.
“Was my name on it?””
Naomi nodded.
“Yes.””
The room went silent.
Laura leaned forward.
“Did you see Emily's signature?””
“No. The line was blank.””
“What happened next?””
Naomi stared at the wall.
“Your father told Daniel to leave. Daniel said he wouldn't leave without the signed documents. Then your father pressed the call button.””
“Did you go inside?””
“Not immediately. Daniel came out and told me Thomas was confused and that I should go home.””
“Did you?””
“No. I waited near the nurses' station.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“About twenty minutes later, Daniel came out carrying the folder. He told me your father had agreed to reconsider the documents.””
I felt my pulse hammering.
“But Dad was still alive,” I whispered.
“Yes.””
“Did you go inside?””
“After Daniel left, I did.””
Naomi took a shaky breath.
“Your father was awake. He looked exhausted, but he recognized me. He asked whether Daniel had taken the folder.””
“What did you say?””
“I told him yes.””
She covered her mouth.
“Then he told me to listen carefully. He said Daniel had been trying to obtain control of the trust's voting rights for months. He said the paperwork Daniel brought that night was intended to make the transfer appear voluntary.””
Laura's pen stopped moving.
“Did Thomas say he had signed anything?””
“No. He told me he had refused.””
I closed my eyes.
Dad had been dying, and he was still fighting to protect something he believed belonged to me.
“What did he say about Daniel using my name?”” I asked.
Naomi looked directly at me.
“He said Daniel had been preparing documents that described you as the future controlling beneficiary. Daniel wanted to use that status to justify a series of transactions before you knew you were involved.””
“Was my name actually used on any transactions?””
“I don't know. Your father said he had evidence, but he didn't tell me where it was.””
“Did he say anything else?””
Naomi hesitated.
“He told me that if anything happened to him before he could meet with his attorney, I needed to contact Laura Bennett.””
Laura's face remained composed, but her fingers had tightened around her pen.
“Did you contact me?””
“No.””
“Why not?””
Naomi lowered her eyes.
“Because Daniel told me Thomas had died before I could do anything. He said the documents were all legitimate and that I would be held responsible if I repeated what I'd heard.””
“So you stayed silent,” I said.
“Yes.””
“And then you continued working for him.””
“For a while.””
“You continued the affair.””
Naomi's eyes filled.
“Yes.””
I looked away.
Her tears didn't erase what she'd done. She had lied to me, betrayed me, and helped Daniel build a story in which my mother was the problem.
But now she was sitting in front of us, describing a possible attempt to obtain my father's signature while he lay dying.
I couldn't dismiss it.
Laura closed her notebook.
“Naomi, do you have any direct evidence of the conversation at the hospital?””
“No recording. But I have emails from Daniel sent that night.””
She opened her handbag and took out her phone.
“After Thomas died, Daniel sent me a message telling me to destroy every draft related to the trust transfer. I saved it because I was frightened.””
She handed the phone to Laura.
Laura read the message without speaking.
Then she passed it to me.
The text was brief.
Delete the drafts. There must be no record that we attempted the transfer before Thomas's death. The final documents will need to be prepared differently.
My vision blurred.
I read it again.
“Is this real?”” I asked.
“Yes,” Naomi whispered.
“I can provide the original message and the phone it came from.””
Laura returned the phone.
“This needs to be preserved and reviewed by a qualified forensic examiner. We won't make public accusations based on a screenshot, but this is important evidence.””
I stared at Naomi.
“Why tell me now?””
She wiped her cheek.
“Because yesterday, Daniel told me he was going to make sure you signed the documents after the ceremony. He said once you were married, you'd have no reason to question him.””
“And when I canceled the wedding?””
“He called me. He said I had ruined everything.””
Naomi's voice cracked.
“He said if I didn't fix it, he would make sure I was blamed for the entire scheme.””
Laura exchanged a glance with me.
“Did he threaten you directly?””
“He said he had copies of the confidentiality agreement I signed. He said he'd sue me for every dollar I ever earned.””
“Do you still have a copy?””
“No.””
“Did you receive legal advice before signing it?””
Naomi shook her head.
“Daniel told me it was routine paperwork.””
Laura wrote something down.
“We'll need to examine that agreement as well.””
I looked at Naomi for a long moment.
“You don't get forgiveness just because you've decided to tell the truth.””
“I know.””
“You hurt my mother.””
“I know.””
“You helped him.””
“I know.””
“Then why should I believe you now?””
Naomi reached into her bag and removed a small, sealed envelope.
“Because I kept the one thing Daniel never knew I had.””
She placed it on the table.
The envelope was old and yellowed at the edges. My father's name was written on the front, followed by a date from the week before he died.
Laura examined it without opening it.
“Where did you get this?””
“Thomas gave it to me in the hospital. He told me to deliver it to you only if Daniel attempted to get your signature.””
I stared at the envelope.
“Why didn't you give it to me yesterday?””
“Because I was afraid you would hand it straight to Daniel's lawyers before you understood what it was.””
Laura carefully opened the envelope.
Inside was a small brass key and a handwritten note.
She read it silently, then looked up at me.
“Emily, your father left instructions for a safety deposit box at a bank in Hartford. The note says the box contains original trust documents and a complete record of the transactions he was investigating.””
My heart began to pound.
“Can we get it?””
“Not until I verify the authorization and the bank's requirements. But if the records are there, they may help establish what happened.””
I reached for the note.
There was one final sentence beneath my father's signature.
If Daniel has forced Emily to choose between her marriage and her mother's home, then he has finally shown her who he is.
Tears burned my eyes.
Dad had anticipated this.
Not the scissors. Not the wedding dress. Not the exact moment I would discover the truth.
But the choice.
He knew Daniel might one day try to make me prove my love by surrendering something that wasn't his to take.
Laura placed the key back inside the envelope.
“We'll arrange the next steps carefully. Until then, don't contact Daniel about this meeting.””
I nodded.
For the first time since the dressing room, I felt as though we had a direction.
Then Laura's office phone rang.
She answered, listened for several seconds, and slowly stood.
“Yes,” she said.
“I understand.””
She ended the call and looked at me.
“Emily, I need you to stay calm.””
My stomach dropped.
“What happened?””
“The bank has already received a request to access your father's safety deposit box.””
“From whom?””
Laura's face had gone pale.
“The request was submitted yesterday afternoon.””
She turned her laptop toward me.
The authorization form displayed a scanned signature.
My signature.
The same signature I had refused to put on Daniel's petition.
Only this one wasn't blank.
May you like
Someone had forged it.
And beneath the signature, in the space marked Authorized Representative, was Daniel Carter's name.
