Chapter 3 - The Signature at 2:14 A.M.Rebecca met Sienna that afternoon in a private conference room at Mercer Ridge Capital.
Nolan was asleep in an adjoining office with a blanket pulled beneath his chin.
Sienna refused to leave him with anyone else.
Rebecca placed three documents across the table.
“This is the original reserve agreement.”
Sienna nodded.
“This is the amendment.”
Rebecca moved to the second sheet.
“And this is the authentication log.”
Sienna studied the timestamp.
2:14:07 a.m.
The hospital room came back to her immediately.
Nolan asleep beneath thin white blankets.
A plastic dinosaur beside his pillow.
Sienna sitting in a chair answering messages on her phone.
Her laptop had been at home.
“Malcolm was at the hospital until midnight,” she said.
Rebecca looked up.
“Then what?”
“He said he needed sleep before a meeting.”
“Did he go home?”
“I assumed he did.”
Rebecca tapped the authentication record.
“The signature token was used from an IP address assigned to your mansion.”
Sienna felt sick.
“He went home and signed as me.”
“We need forensic confirmation.”
“But that’s what happened.”
“It appears likely.”
Rebecca slid another document across.
“There’s something worse.”
Sienna almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“The reserve amendment supported a refinancing facility.”
“How much?”
“Eighty-four million.”
Sienna stared at her.
“That makes no sense. The Harbor Point loan was sixty-two.”
“It was.”
“Then where did the other twenty-two go?”
Rebecca turned a page.
“Seven million paid down another Grayson facility.”
“And fifteen?”
Rebecca didn’t answer immediately.
“That’s what we’re tracing.”
Sienna leaned back.
For the first time since breakfast, fear replaced anger.
Not fear for the money.
Fear of how long Malcolm had been lying.
Her phone buzzed.
Malcolm.
She let it ring.
He called again.
And again.
Finally Rebecca said, “You should probably hear what he says.”
Sienna answered on speaker.
“Sienna.”
Malcolm sounded calm.
Too calm.
“How’s Nolan?”
The question nearly made her laugh.
“He’s medically fine.”
“Good.”
A pause.
“I’ve been thinking about this morning.”
Sienna waited.
“My dad crossed a line.”
Rebecca raised one eyebrow.
“And you?”
Malcolm exhaled.
“I reacted badly.”
“You slapped me.”
“I lost my temper.”
“Because I stopped your father from hurting my son.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“I mean everyone was emotional.”
Sienna looked at Rebecca.
There it was.
Everyone.
Not Walter.
Not Malcolm.
Everyone.
“I’m not discussing breakfast.”
“Sienna, the company is already getting calls.”
“Then answer them.”
“You’re hurting hundreds of employees.”
“Your father hurt a child.”
“This isn’t about Nolan anymore.”
Sienna’s voice went very still.
“You’re right.”
Malcolm hesitated.
She looked at the fraudulent document.
“It’s about 2:14 a.m. on June eighteenth.”
Silence.
Rebecca watched carefully.
Malcolm finally said, “What?”
“The night Nolan was in the hospital.”
“I remember.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“I’m looking at a document carrying my electronic signature.”
Another pause.
Sienna continued.
“A document I never signed.”
Malcolm’s breathing changed.
“Sienna, corporate staff process documents all the time.”
“My authorization token was used from our house.”
No answer.
“Were you home?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You left the hospital at midnight.”
“I had a meeting.”
“At two in the morning?”
“Stop interrogating me.”
Rebecca wrote something on a legal pad.
Sienna’s suspicion became certainty.
“Where did the fifteen million dollars go?”
Malcolm answered too quickly.
“What fifteen million?”
Sienna looked at Rebecca.
Neither woman moved.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because I never told you it was fifteen.”
The line went silent.
Then Malcolm disconnected.
Sienna stared at the phone.
Rebecca spoke first.
“That was useful.”
Sienna felt no satisfaction.
Only grief.
“How long?”
“We don’t know.”
“How long has my husband been using me as a bank?”
Rebecca closed the file.
“That may not be the right question.”
“What is?”
“How long has he been planning for the day you stopped being one?”
At the mansion, Malcolm threw his phone onto the desk.
Walter was waiting.
“You told her about the fifteen?”
“No.”
“She knows.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Walter paced.
“We need to get ahead of this.”
“How?”
“We tell the board the reserve extension was authorized verbally.”
“She’ll deny it.”
“Then it becomes a marital dispute.”
“She has Rebecca.”
“So?”
“So Rebecca keeps records.”
Walter stopped.
A thought came to him.
“What records?”
Malcolm frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“What did Sienna know about Harbor Point?”
“Only that it needed refinancing.”
“Did she know about the land-option payments?”
“No.”
“Did she know about Madison Holdings?”
Malcolm’s face tightened.
“No.”
Walter’s voice dropped.
“Then we still have room.”
Malcolm shook his head.
“We should tell her.”
Walter stared at him.
“Tell her what?”
“That we moved the fifteen.”
“To protect the company.”
“To Madison.”
“To protect the company.”
Malcolm looked exhausted.
“Dad, Madison is your company.”
Walter’s face hardened.
“It is an asset-management entity.”
“It paid for the lake house.”
“An investment property.”
“It paid your personal tax bill.”
Walter stepped closer.
“Listen carefully.”
Malcolm did.
“If Sienna discovers every dollar, you don’t just lose the company.”
Walter pointed toward the family photographs on the office shelf.
“You lose this house.”
Malcolm glanced toward the hallway.
Walter continued.
“You lose your board seat.”
Another step.
“You lose the name your grandfather built.”
Then Walter smiled without warmth.
“And after what happened this morning, you may lose your wife anyway.”
Malcolm looked toward the door.
“What do you want me to do?”
May you like
Walter answered immediately.
“Make her need you before she learns she never did.”
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