Chapter 4 - My Father’s Name
I thought I had misheard her.
“My father?”
Cynthia nodded.
“No.”
Vanessa reached for me.
“Marcus—”
I stepped away.
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
I looked at Cynthia.
“How did Leonard even have access to my father’s signature?”
Nobody answered.
Then I remembered.
Our wedding.
Twelve years earlier.
Dad had cosigned a small commercial lease when Leonard and I briefly discussed opening a materials warehouse together.
The idea never went anywhere.
But there had been paperwork.
Copies.
Signatures.
I felt nauseated.
“What did Leonard do?”
Cynthia wiped her eyes.
“He used an old signed document as a sample.”
“For what?”
“To guarantee another loan.”
I stared at her.
“How much?”
“Eighty thousand originally.”
My vision narrowed.
“When?”
“Thirteen years ago.”
Before Vanessa and I married.
My father had apparently been pulled into her family’s financial mess before I even knew there was one.
“Was the loan repaid?”
Cynthia shook her head.
“Partially.”
“What happened to the balance?”
“Leonard refinanced it.”
“With another forged signature?”
“Yes.”
I walked away from the table.
Vanessa said softly, “I didn’t know about Dad’s signature until last week.”
I turned.
“Last week?”
She nodded.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
“After we fixed it.”
That sentence enraged me.
“You don’t fix forgery by secretly paying blackmailers.”
“I panicked.”
“You hid a crime involving my father.”
“I was trying to protect everyone.”
“No.”
I pointed toward her.
“You were protecting the image of your family.”
She began crying.
“Those are not the same thing.”
Derek lowered his head.
Cynthia whispered, “Marcus, I’m sorry.”
I looked at her.
“Does my father know?”
“No.”
Thank God.
Then another thought hit me.
“Is that why you were so angry about the Toyota?”
Vanessa looked confused.
“What?”
“You found out your father used mine.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“And today you saw my parents receiving something from me.”
“Marcus, that isn’t—”
“Were you afraid I’d start looking at their finances?”
Her silence was answer enough.
I felt my chest ache.
The Toyota hadn’t created her anger.
It had touched her guilt.
She had looked at my parents celebrating and remembered that her father had once used my father’s identity to borrow money.
Instead of telling me, she attacked me.
I laughed bitterly.
“That’s incredible.”
“I was scared.”
“So you made my kindness the problem.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“But you did.”
Derek stood.
“Marcus, Raymond is the one we need to deal with.”
I turned sharply.
“No.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Raymond didn’t forge my father’s name.”
“Dad is dead.”
“That doesn’t erase what happened.”
“We know.”
“No, you don’t.”
I pointed around the table.
“All of you keep acting as if the problem is that someone might expose your family.”
Cynthia looked down.
“The real problem is that your family did something worth exposing.”
Silence.
Then my phone rang.
Dad.
For a moment I couldn’t answer.
His picture appeared on the screen.
He was smiling in the photo beside Mom at Caleb’s last birthday.
Vanessa whispered, “Don’t tell him tonight.”
I looked at her.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
I answered.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Marcus!”
He sounded happier than I had heard him in months.
“Your mother hasn’t stopped talking about this car.”
I closed my eyes.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Like it? Son, this is too much.”
“It isn’t.”
“I told your mother we should return it.”
I smiled despite everything.
“You’re not returning it.”
Dad laughed.
Then his voice softened.
“You’ve done enough for us.”
My throat tightened.
If only he knew.
“Dad…”
“What?”
I looked at the forged documents on the table.
I couldn’t tell him over the phone.
“Can I come by tomorrow morning?”
“Of course.”
“Just you and me.”
He went quiet.
“Everything okay?”
I looked at Vanessa.
“No.”
Dad’s voice changed immediately.
“Marcus?”
“I’ll explain tomorrow.”
After the call, Vanessa whispered, “He’s going to hate my family.”
I stared at her.
“Is that what worries you?”
“He loves me.”
“Then maybe you should have trusted him with the truth.”
She sank into a chair.
Derek pushed another envelope toward me.
“There’s more.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“This came from Raymond yesterday.”
Inside was a USB drive.
“What’s on it?”
“Copies of recordings.”
“Have you listened?”
“One.”
“Play it.”
Cynthia shook her head.
“Please.”
I ignored her.
Derek connected the drive to his laptop.
An audio file opened.
Leonard’s voice filled the room.
I recognized it immediately.
He sounded younger.
Confident.
Then another voice spoke.
My father.
My skin prickled.
The recording appeared to be from a dinner thirteen years earlier.
Leonard was asking Dad about business.
Dad said clearly, “I don’t lend my name to deals I haven’t reviewed.”
Leonard laughed.
Then Dad said something even clearer.
“If you ever need my signature, you ask me directly.”
The recording ended.
I stared at Cynthia.
“That proves Dad never authorized it.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“So why is Raymond using it against you?”
Derek opened another audio file.
This one was recorded years later.
Leonard and Cynthia were arguing.
Cynthia’s voice said, “You used Richard’s signature without permission.”
My entire body went still.
Leonard answered, “Keep your voice down.”
Then Cynthia said, “If Marcus ever finds out, Vanessa’s marriage is finished.”
I looked at my wife.
She covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
Leonard said something I would never forget.
“Marcus has money. Richard has money. Eventually they’ll pay rather than embarrass Vanessa.”
The audio ended.
No one moved.
My wife’s father had viewed my family as a financial safety net before Vanessa and I were even married.
I felt used.
Not by Vanessa then.
By Leonard.
But Vanessa had continued the same pattern every time she hid something and expected my money to solve it.
I removed the USB.
“I’m taking this.”
Derek nodded.
“I figured.”
“I’m calling a lawyer tomorrow.”
Cynthia started crying again.
“Marcus, please don’t involve police.”
I looked at her.
“Someone stole seventy-three thousand dollars from my wife.”
“I know.”
“Your husband forged my father’s signature.”
“He’s gone.”
“And now someone is blackmailing you.”
“Please.”
I shook my head.
“No more secrets.”
Vanessa stood.
“If you report this, my mother could be charged.”
I looked at her.
“If she committed a crime, that isn’t my decision.”
“She’s Caleb’s grandmother.”
“And my father is Caleb’s grandfather.”
Vanessa went silent.
For the first time, she seemed to understand what she had been demanding from me.
Protect her mother.
Ignore my father.
Again.
I picked up the folder.
“Tomorrow morning, I tell Dad.”
Then Derek’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His face went white.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward us.
Unknown number.
One sentence.
You should have kept Marcus out of this.
Below it was a photograph.
May you like
My parents’ new Toyota.
Parked in their driveway.
