The Forged Name
Chapter 13 - The Forged Name
The forged signature changed everything.
Until then, Richard could claim bad accounting.
Confusion.
Poor recordkeeping.
A family misunderstanding.
But dead men did not sign checks.
Maya hired a forensic document examiner.
The preliminary opinion arrived within forty-eight hours.
The signature was almost certainly traced.
Richard stopped answering reporters.
His office released a statement saying he was taking “temporary personal leave.”
Ethan should have felt victorious.
Instead, he felt exhausted.
Every new piece of evidence made his father’s final years look lonelier.
Edward had known enough to be afraid of Richard.
But not enough to stop him in time.
One evening Ethan found Nathan in the garage rebuilding the Harley’s side panel.
“You don’t have to keep fixing that,” Ethan said.
Nathan smiled.
“Your dad hated unfinished jobs.”
“Our dad.”
Nathan looked up.
Ethan had not planned to say it.
The word simply came out.
Our.
Nathan’s eyes changed.
He looked back down at the motorcycle quickly.
“Yeah,” he said. “Our dad.”
Ethan picked up a wrench.
“What needs doing?”
They worked for almost two hours.
Neither man talked much.
But the silence no longer felt hostile.
Lauren watched from the kitchen doorway.
Later, after Nathan left, Ethan found her sitting at the dining table with the separation papers.
“I should have told you about these before you deployed,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I was scared.”
“I know.”
She looked surprised.
Ethan sat across from her.
“I’m not ready to pretend everything is fixed.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“I want to try.”
Lauren’s eyes filled.
He continued.
“But no more protecting each other with silence.”
She nodded.
“No more.”
Ethan took the papers.
Then he did something Lauren did not expect.
He did not tear them up.
He slid them back across the table.
“These mattered when you signed them,” he said. “We don’t erase that. We deal with why they existed.”
Lauren covered his hand with hers.
This time, Ethan did not pull away.
The next morning, Maya called.
Richard had made an offer.
He would return the garage property and part of the missing trust money if Ethan and Nathan agreed not to pursue the matter further.
Nathan laughed.
Ethan did not.
“What happens if we say no?” he asked.
Maya paused.
“Then Richard’s finances become public.”
May you like
Ethan looked at the old Harley.
“Tell him no.”
