Chapter 4: My Father's Signature
“That is impossible.””
My father's voice was so quiet that I almost didn't recognize it.
Grant Mitchell stood beside Denise's desk, his phone pressed against his ear, staring at the woman he'd been married to for six years. Sunlight poured through the office windows, illuminating the scattered registration papers and the broken pieces of Denise's coffee mug on the floor.
Denise didn't look at him.
She looked at the phone.
“Leonard,” Grant said, “you're telling me there's a document with my signature on it?””
“Yes,” Leonard replied.
“And before you accuse me of making this up, I have photographs.””
“Send them.””
“I will. But you need to understand that this is bigger than a car sale.””
Grant's jaw tightened.
“Then stop speaking in riddles and tell me what you found.””
A pause followed.
Then Leonard said, “I found a sealed envelope hidden beneath the trunk lining. Inside were financial records, a second vehicle registration, and a document with both your name and Avery's.””
My stomach tightened.
“My name?”” I whispered.
Denise shut her eyes.
That tiny reaction frightened me more than anything Leonard had said.
Grant noticed it, too.
“What financial records?””
“Transfers,” Leonard answered.
“Several of them. Some go back years. The amounts are substantial, and the names attached to the accounts don't match the people who appear to own them.””
Grant glanced at the papers on the desk.
“Who owns the accounts?””
“I'll explain when we're looking at the same documents.””
“No. You're going to tell me whether my daughter is in danger.””
Leonard was silent for several seconds.
Finally, he said, “I don't know. But someone went to considerable trouble to hide these records in her car.””
My father slowly lowered the phone.
I could hear my own heartbeat.
Denise took one step toward him.
“Grant, please. Let me explain before you make a decision you'll regret.””
He looked at her.
“You've had years to explain.””
Her mouth trembled.
“You don't know what you're talking about.””
“Then help me understand.””
She glanced at me.
“Not with Avery standing here.””
I laughed once, without humor.
“That's convenient. You used my name on a sale form, sold my car, and apparently hid something inside it. But suddenly I'm the one who shouldn't be in the room?””
“Avery, this is complicated.””
“Then stop making it complicated.””
Grant raised his phone again.
“Leonard, where are you?””
“At my office. I can meet you at your house if that's safer.””
“Bring copies of everything. Don't hand the originals to anyone until I've seen them.””
“I already made copies.””
“Good. And Leonard?””
“Yes?””
“Don't discuss this with Denise again until I know what we're dealing with.””
Denise's face hardened.
“You can't tell him who he can speak to.””
Grant ended the call.
“Apparently, I can.””
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Denise walked to the office door and closed it.
The click of the latch sounded unnaturally loud.
“Grant,” she said, “you need to remember who stood beside you when nobody else would.””
He stared at her.
“Is that what this is about? Loyalty?””
“You promised me we'd build a family together.””
“We did.””
“No. You built a family with Avery. You had your life, your memories, your daughter. I came into this house and spent years trying to make room for myself and Brielle.””
I watched her fingers curl around the edge of the door.
There was genuine hurt in her voice, but it didn't erase the lies.
Grant's expression softened for a fraction of a second.
Then she continued.
“And every time something went wrong, you protected Avery. Her car, her job, her plans. You never once asked what it cost me to keep this family together.””
“Did keeping this family together require selling her car?””
Denise looked away.
“That's not the point.””
“It is exactly the point.””
She drew a shaky breath.
“You don't know what I had to do.””
“Then tell me.””
“I can't.””
“Won't.””
“Can't!””
Her voice broke, and tears finally spilled down her cheeks.
I wanted to feel sorry for her.
I tried.
But all I could see was the empty parking space where my car had disappeared, the weeks I'd spent wondering whether I'd ever get it back, and the way Brielle had smiled when she climbed out of her new SUV.
“What did you hide in my car?”” I asked.
Denise looked at me.
For one strange moment, I thought she might answer honestly.
Instead, she said, “Something that should never have been there.””
“Who put it there?””
She pressed her lips together.
“Denise,” Grant warned.
She shook her head.
“If I tell you, everything changes.””
“Everything already changed when you sold the car.””
A notification sounded from my father's phone.
He looked down.
Leonard had sent three photographs.
Grant opened the first.
It showed a folded financial statement resting on a wooden table. The second showed a document with several lines of figures and handwritten notes. The third was a close-up of a signature.
My father's signature.
I recognized it immediately. I'd seen him sign school forms, birthday cards, and the documents for my first car.
But there was something wrong with this one.
“Dad,” I said, leaning closer, “look at the date.””
The document was dated six years earlier.
Six years.
The year Grant married Denise.
Below his signature was another name.
*AVERY MITCHELL — BENEFICIARY.*
I stared at the screen.
“Beneficiary of what?””
Grant enlarged the photograph.
The lower section was blurry, but I could make out the words trust account, ownership interest, and transfer upon majority.
My father looked as though someone had struck him.
“That's not a document I signed willingly,” he whispered.
Denise went completely still.
I turned toward her.
“What does that mean?””
Grant didn't answer.
He opened the second photograph and studied the account numbers.
Then he looked up at his wife.
“You told me the account had been closed.””
Denise's tears stopped.
“What?””
“The account you said we closed after the wedding. You told me there was nothing left in it.””
She shook her head slowly.
“Grant, please don't do this.””
“Where did the money go?””
She took a step backward.
“It's not what you think.””
He held up the phone.
“Then explain why a document naming Avery as the beneficiary was hidden in her car.””
Denise opened her mouth.
Before she could speak, someone knocked on the front door.
Three firm knocks.
Grant glanced toward the hallway.
Then his phone vibrated again.
A message from Leonard appeared on the screen.
I'm outside. Don't let Denise leave with the original papers.
My father looked at the closed office door.
Denise was already reaching for the drawer.
May you like
And when Grant grabbed her wrist, she screamed the words that made my entire world tilt sideways.
“IF LEONARD TELLS AVERY WHO HER REAL FATHER IS, WE'RE ALL FINISHED!””
