Chapter 5 - The Forged Signature
The signatures were good.
That was what made them terrifying.
Nico sat beside Sienna while Detective Park placed photocopies across a hospital conference table.
Power of attorney.
Sienna touched the bottom of one page.
"That's my signature."
"You signed it?"
"No. I mean it looks like mine. Exactly like mine."
"Where would he get enough samples?"
"Birthday cards. School forms. Tax papers. I've signed things in front of him for nine years."
"This one transfers voting control over the children's trust to Gavin during any period in which you're considered medically unable to act."
"He can't transfer what she doesn't control. The trust names me as co-trustee."
"Not anymore," Park said.
"That is not mine."
"We assumed."
Sienna whispered, "He was going to use the birth."
"What?"
"The text said before delivery. If I was sedated, if something went wrong, he could claim the documents were already signed."
Park nodded. "And if a notary was willing to say she witnessed them..."
"Then it becomes a civil fight while he moves money," Nico finished.
This time it was Ferrante Group's chief financial officer, Daniel Reed.
"Nico, we have a crisis."
"Get in line."
"I ran Northline after your message. Payments weren't just going out. Somebody created an internal vendor override."
"Who?"
"Gavin's credentials approved the invoices, but the override came from executive administration."
Nico frowned. "Who in executive administration?"
"Your office."
"That's impossible."
"The authorization token is registered to your private account."
"When?" Nico asked.
"First use was eleven months ago. Last use was this morning."
"I haven't approved Northline anything."
"I believe you. But the system says you did."
Park held out her hand for the phone.
"Mr. Reed, preserve the logs. Don't touch anything else."
"Gavin had access to Dad's account?"
"Maybe," Nico said. "Or someone close to me did."
Mila was coloring at the far end of the table with a nurse.
"Look, Mommy. I drew Daddy's secret key."
"Mila, where did you see that?"
"Daddy has it. He says it opens Nonno's computer."
Only six people had physical keys to his highest-level Ferrante systems.
His own was locked in a biometric safe.
The other five belonged to executives he had trusted for more than a decade.
Sienna looked at him.
"Dad... who has the other keys?"
May you like
Nico already knew the answer he hated most.
"One of them belongs to your godfather."
