I couldn't stop staring at the signature.
It looked enough like mine to fool someone who didn't know me.
But I knew my handwriting.
I knew how I formed the R in my last name.
The person who forged it had copied the shape but not the pressure. Mine always became heavier near the end of a word.
This one was too careful.
Too clean.
“I didn't sign this.”
Colin nodded.
“I believe you.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He stepped closer to the monitor.
“The date is wrong.”
“How?”
“Seven months before Brynn was born.”
“So?”
“So whoever created this knew the name we planned to give her.”
I looked at him.
“We hadn't chosen her name.”
He went still.
“What?”
“We didn't decide on Brynn until after she was born.”
He stared at the document.
“Then someone knew.”
“Knew what?”
“The name.”
I felt cold.
“Who knew?”
“Our parents.”
“Anyone else?”
“Ethan.”
I looked at him.
“Why would Ethan know?”
“He was there when we talked about names.”
“Before she was born?”
“Yes.”
“Could he have remembered?”
“Maybe.”
The computer screen suddenly changed.
A new window appeared.
There was no sound.
No warning.
Just a message.
You keep looking backward.
Look at the person standing beside you.
I looked at Colin.
He looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Maybe it means you.”
He didn't react.
I almost wished he had.
Instead, he said, “Maybe.”
That frightened me.
“Are you hiding something else?”
“No.”
“Think carefully.”
“I am.”
The screen went black.
Colin unplugged the computer.
“We're leaving.”
We returned to the hotel before dawn.
Marcus met us there.
He carried a thin folder.
“I found the trust records.”
I looked at him.
“Tell me everything.”
He sat down.
“The trust was opened through a private financial service.”
“Who established it?”
“Your name appears on the application.”
“But I didn't.”
“I know.”
“Who else signed?”
“There are two signatures.”
He placed copies on the table.
Mine.
And Colin's.
Neither looked authentic.
“Why would someone forge both of us?”
Marcus leaned back.
“To make the trust look legitimate.”
“What was it for?”
“Initially, education expenses.”
“For Brynn?”
“Yes.”
“She wasn't born.”
Marcus nodded.
“That's the strange part.”
“Then what happened?”
“The account remained dormant for nearly two years.”
“Until?”
“Until shortly after your divorce.”
Colin's face tightened.
“How much passed through it?”
“Enough to raise questions.”
“Give me a number.”
Marcus did.
I stared at him.
The amount was far larger than anything I expected.
“Where did it go?”
“Most of it was withdrawn.”
“By whom?”
“A trustee.”
“Who?”
Marcus looked at Colin.
“Mallory.”
The room went silent.
“She was the trustee?”
“Yes.”
Colin stood.
“No.”
Marcus slid a document toward him.
“Her legal name is there.”
Colin looked down.
I watched his face.
He looked as though somebody had taken away the floor beneath him.
“How?”
Marcus said, “She didn't become trustee until after the divorce.”
“Why?”
“That is what we're trying to establish.”
I looked at the paperwork.
“What did she use the money for?”
“Some of it went to medical and educational expenses.”
“Whose?”
“That's unclear.”
“Then where did the rest go?”
“Several shell companies.”
Colin sat again.
“It's the same network.”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“Was Brynn ever actually connected to the trust?”
“Her name was the beneficiary.”
“But she never received anything.”
“No.”
“Then why use her?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Because she was the perfect cover.”
I thought about the money Mallory had given her.
Two hundred and eighty dollars.
A tiny amount compared with the money moving through the trust.
But it suddenly felt deliberate.
“Was the procedure part of the plan?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don't know.”
I did.
“Yes.”
They looked at me.
“She wanted Brynn distracted.”
“From what?”
“From asking questions.”
Marcus frowned.
“She may have been trying to get information from her.”
“About the house.”
“And the folder.”
“And the trust.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“She needed Brynn to trust her.”
“She bought that trust.”
“With money.”
“Yes.”
Colin looked at me.
“I should never have brought Mallory around her.”
“No.”
“I thought she loved Brynn.”
“So did I.”
He looked devastated.
For once, I didn't feel the urge to comfort him.
The truth was too large for that.
Marcus opened another folder.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“I traced one of the shell companies.”
He handed me a printout.
The registered address was a small office downtown.
The listed director was Ethan.
I looked at Colin.
“He's alive.”
Marcus nodded.
“According to this, yes.”
“Where is he?”
“I have an address.”
Colin stood.
“We're going.”
“No,” Marcus said.
Colin stopped.
“Why?”
“Because if Ethan is involved, walking straight to him could be exactly what they want.”
“Then what do we do?”
“We make him come to us.”
“How?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Release one piece of information.”
“What piece?”
“The trust.”
I understood.
“If Ethan thinks we found it, he'll react.”
“Exactly.”
Colin shook his head.
“That's dangerous.”
“So is everything else.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your daughter is already involved. The difference now is whether you control what happens next.”
I hated that he was right.
We waited until afternoon.
Then Marcus sent an anonymous message to an old business contact.
The message contained one sentence:
The Brynn Reynolds trust records have been recovered.
Nothing else.
No accusation.
No name.
No threat.
We waited.
An hour passed.
Then two.
At 3:18, Colin's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice said, “You shouldn't have opened the envelope.”
Colin's face hardened.
“Ethan?”
Silence.
Then:
“Where is she?”
Colin looked at me.
“Who?”
“You know who.”
“Mallory?”
“No.”
The caller sounded frightened.
“Brynn.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“You don't understand what they will do.”
“Who?”
“Listen to me. You need to get her away from the house.”
“She isn't there.”
“Good.”
“Where is Mallory?”
Another pause.
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
“She knows you found the trust.”
The call ended.
Colin immediately called the number back.
Disconnected.
Marcus was already standing.
“We move.”
“To where?”
“Somewhere they don't know about.”
I grabbed my coat.
Then I stopped.
“Brynn.”
She had been in the hotel room.
The door was closed.
I opened it.
Empty.
Her backpack was gone.
Her phone was on the bed.
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Colin rushed past me.
“Brynn!”
Nothing.
The bathroom was empty.
The adjoining room was empty.
The hallway was empty.
Marcus checked the stairwell.
I stood frozen.
Then I saw a piece of paper on the bed.
My daughter's handwriting.
Mom, I went to get something Dad forgot.
I looked at Colin.
“What did you forget?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
My phone rang.
Mallory.
I answered.
Her voice was calm.
“You should have listened to me.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“She isn't hurt.”
“If you touch her—”
“I haven't touched her.”
“Then where is she?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“Tell me where she is.”
A soft laugh.
“Ask Colin what he forgot at the office.”
The line went dead.
Colin looked at me.
Then he suddenly went pale.
“The birth certificate.”
“What?”
“I left the original in my desk.”
I stared.
“Why would Brynn go there?”
“She thinks it's what we need.”
“She went back to the office.”
“Yes.”
We ran.
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: Brynn Went Back for the Document Everyone Had Been Chasing, but the Office Held a Trap Designed to Separate Her From Us
My Daughter Came Home Hiding Her Face, and One Sentence About Her Father’s New Wife Changed Everything I Thought I Knew
Part 7 of 20
