Chapter 5 - The First Lie
Lauren backed away from me.
Not far. Half a step.
But I saw it.
“What account?” I asked.
She looked at the guests instead of me. “I wanted to understand what marriage would mean financially. That’s not a crime.”
“Forging my signature is.”
“I didn’t forge anything.”
Dad raised the phone. “The metadata shows the file was edited from your laptop on three separate nights.”
Vivian said, “Metadata proves nothing.”
“Then the email should.”
Dad opened another message on the wedding screen.
I saw Lauren’s name at the top.
Under it, a sentence:
Make the signature look less digital. Daniel notices details.
My hands went cold.
Lauren’s face broke. “That’s fake.”
Dad almost smiled, but there was no humor in it. “I hoped you’d say that.”
He turned toward a man standing near the back row.
I recognized him after a second: Marcus Lee, a forensic accountant who had worked with our company during an acquisition.
Why was he at my wedding?
Marcus walked forward.
Lauren stared at him.
“You invited him?” she asked me.
“No.”
Dad answered. “I did.”
Marcus stopped beside the podium. “Daniel, your father called me five days ago after your mother found unusual mail addressed to you at their house.”
“What mail?”
“A notice from a private lender.”
My pulse jumped.
“I don’t have a private loan.”
Marcus nodded. “That’s the problem.”
Lauren turned and started walking toward the mansion.
I caught her wrist lightly. “Where are you going?”
“Inside.”
“We’re not done.”
“Yes, we are.”
She yanked free.
Marcus opened a folder.
“Daniel, someone borrowed eight hundred thousand dollars using your investment account as collateral.”
I laughed once because the number sounded absurd.
Then Marcus showed me the lender’s document.
The borrower was listed as Daniel Hale.
The money had been wired somewhere else.
“To whose account?” I asked.
May you like
Marcus looked at Lauren.
“To her mother’s company.”
