Chapter 11 - The Video Made Rosalie Look GuiltyAdrian had recorded her.
Sienna explained.
"Not the mortgage."
Rosalie stared.
"What then?"
"The paperwork you signed at breakfast."
Rosalie remembered.
Lily eating pancakes.
Adrian standing beside the kitchen island.
A stack of papers.
He'd said the lake house insurer needed updated ownership certifications because they were changing carriers.
Rosalie signed without reading every page.
Adrian had been holding his phone.
She assumed he was answering email.
"He recorded me signing."
Sienna nodded.
"Why?"
"He said legal wanted evidence because some documents were being handled remotely."
Rosalie felt stupid.
That was what betrayal did.
It made ordinary trust look like stupidity in retrospect.
Katherine said:
"Do not blame yourself. Signing one document does not authorize a different transaction."
Rosalie knew that intellectually.
Emotionally, she imagined a courtroom.
Adrian's attorney playing video.
Rosalie signing.
Adrian saying she understood.
Would strangers believe her?
Sienna opened her laptop.
"I might have the original file."
"Why?"
"Adrian asked me to save it."
She searched.
Nothing.
Then cloud storage.
Archive.
There.
A video.
Rosalie watched herself.
February 2025.
Kitchen.
Hair tied up.
Pajama pants.
Lily's school lunch open on the counter.
Adrian's voice behind the camera:
"Just need your signatures for Lake George."
Rosalie looked up.
"What exactly is this?"
He answered:
"Insurance and title cleanup. Nothing changes."
Rosalie signed.
Katherine immediately said:
"That's useful."
"How?"
"He told you on video what the paperwork was for."
They continued watching.
Rosalie paused.
"Wait."
Sienna rewound.
Adrian handed Rosalie three documents.
The mortgage file contained eight signature pages.
Rosalie had signed only three documents on video.
Katherine said:
"We need the originals."
Sienna became quiet.
"What?"
Rosalie asked.
"There was a scanning project."
"When?"
"After this."
"What kind?"
"Adrian had me create a digital signature library."
Rosalie felt sick.
"For me?"
"For executives."
"Was I included?"
Sienna nodded.
"He said because you were a shareholder."
Katherine asked sharply:
"Did you create reusable signatures?"
"Scanned signatures with transparent backgrounds."
"Did Adrian instruct you?"
"Yes."
"Do you have the request?"
"Maybe."
Sienna searched email.
Found it.
Adrian had written:
Please isolate clean signature files for A.M., R.M., G.H., and C.B. We waste too much time chasing approvals.
Rosalie stared.
Sienna whispered:
"I thought it was for drafts."
Katherine said:
"Using a signature image for drafts is one thing. Applying it to executed legal instruments without authorization is another."
Rosalie looked at Sienna.
"Who else knew?"
"I don't know."
"Pamela Ricks?"
"Probably."
"Daniel?"
"No."
"Anyone in legal?"
"Adrian had a lawyer named Preston Vale."
Katherine immediately asked:
"Firm?"
"Vale & Carter."
Rosalie recognized the name.
Adrian had described them as "outside transaction counsel."
Katherine became quiet.
"I know Preston."
"Good?"
"No."
"What does that mean?"
"It means he was sanctioned by a state court three years ago for discovery misconduct."
Maren said:
"Adrian really knows how to choose people."
Rosalie almost smiled.
Then Lily walked into the room.
Everyone stopped talking.
"Mom?"
Rosalie closed the laptop.
"Hey."
Lily climbed into her lap.
"Are we going home today?"
Rosalie's throat tightened.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Mommy and Daddy are working something out."
Lily looked at Sienna.
Sienna stood awkwardly near the kitchen counter.
"Why is Miss Sienna here?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Lily looked at her.
"Are you Daddy's girlfriend?"
The room went completely silent.
Rosalie felt her heart break.
"Lily."
"What?"
"Why would you ask that?"
Lily looked confused.
"Because Daddy called her that."
Sienna froze.
Rosalie's breathing stopped.
"When?"
Lily shrugged.
"At his office."
Rosalie looked at Sienna.
Sienna looked equally shocked.
"Sweetheart," Rosalie said carefully, "when were you at Daddy's office?"
"That Saturday."
"What Saturday?"
"When Grandma had the wedding."
Maren looked at Rosalie.
Their cousin's wedding.
Nine months earlier.
Adrian had taken Lily to the office for two hours before the ceremony because Rosalie was helping the bride.
Lily continued:
"Daddy was talking to Mr. Connor."
Connor.
Adrian's former business partner.
Rosalie hadn't heard that name in years.
"What did Daddy say?"
Lily thought.
"He said, 'Sienna isn't just my assistant. She's my girlfriend.'"
Sienna stared at Rosalie.
"I wasn't there."
Rosalie believed her.
"Anything else?"
Lily nodded.
"Mr. Connor said, 'Does your wife know?'"
Rosalie felt cold.
"What did Daddy say?"
May you like
Lily's little face became serious as she remembered.
"He said, 'By the time Rosalie knows, it won't matter.'"
Related Stories
