Chapter 8 - His Signature
Emily’s first instinct was to step away from Ethan.
There was nowhere to go inside the elevator.
He saw the signature.
“What the hell?”
“Is that yours?” she asked.
“It looks like mine.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No. I did not authorize this.”
The doors opened to the lobby.
Emily didn’t move.
“Emily.”
She held the paper between them. “You told me you had no idea your mother was testing the baby.”
“I didn’t.”
“Your signature paid for it.”
“My signature is on hundreds of foundation approvals. Grant uses an electronic authorization system.”
“So he copied it?”
“I don’t know.”
She hated those words.
I don’t know had become the anthem of the Cole family.
They returned home in silence.
At the house, Ethan opened his laptop and logged into the family foundation portal.
The transaction was there.
Approved from his account at 11:48 p.m. on June 12.
Emily remembered that night.
They had been in Chicago for a medical conference. Ethan had fallen asleep on the couch with his laptop open.
“Who had access?” she asked.
“Only me.”
“Think.”
He stared at the screen.
“My mother came to the hotel.”
Emily turned. “You never told me that.”
“She said she was meeting donors nearby. She stopped in for twenty minutes.”
“Was I there?”
“You were downstairs getting food.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Margaret had not just planted a lie. She had built a trail designed to make Ethan look involved if anything went wrong.
“She’s protecting herself,” Emily said. “If the fake test comes out, she points to your signature.”
Ethan leaned back, stunned.
His phone buzzed.
A text from Margaret.
COME TO THE LAKE HOUSE. ALONE. WE CAN FIX THIS.
Emily read it over his shoulder.
“No.”
“I’m not going.”
Another message arrived.
Then another.
The third included a photograph.
Nora sat in a hospital bed.
A man in a dark jacket stood behind her.
The caption read:
You have until 6:00 p.m.
Emily checked the time.
May you like
5:22.
Then the house lights went out.
