Chapter 4 - The Forged SignatureDaniel's signature was on three documents.
All related to Sterling Global facilities.
All approved within months of Arthur Sterling's death.
None were legitimate.
Renee immediately contacted her father's former attorney.
His name was Walter Brooks.
He arrived that night.
When he saw the documents, his face changed.
“Where did you get these?”
“Ethan's files.”
Walter stared.
“This is impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Arthur specifically prohibited Ethan from accessing these accounts.”
Renee looked at Daniel.
“What does that mean?”
Walter opened his briefcase.
He removed a sealed envelope.
“Your father gave me this before he died.”
Renee's hands trembled.
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“He told me not to until you were in danger.”
She opened it.
Inside was a letter.
Renee,
If you're reading this, someone has moved against you.
Trust no one inside Sterling Global.
Especially family.
Her eyes filled.
At the bottom was a number.
Daniel recognized it.
“What's that?”
Walter looked at him.
“An account number.”
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
Walter shook his head.
“Not yours personally.”
He explained.
Years earlier, Arthur Sterling had secretly established a compensation fund for employees who had been injured by unsafe equipment.
Daniel's company had worked on several of those projects.
The fund contained millions.
But someone had been draining it.
Daniel's name had been used to authorize withdrawals.
He was being framed.
Renee looked at him.
“They're using you as the scapegoat.”
Daniel nodded.
“Because I'm outside your company.”
“And because nobody would believe an electrician over a Sterling.”
They looked at each other.
Then Renee whispered:
“Unless we prove it.”
They spent the next several days investigating.
Daniel's old work logs.
Security footage.
Bank records.
Email metadata.
Everything pointed toward one person.
Ethan Sterling.
But they still needed proof.
Then Lily found something.
She was drawing at the kitchen table.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Why does this man have the same bracelet?”
She pointed at a photograph.
Daniel looked.
The bracelet belonged to Ethan's head of security.
The same man who had been near Renee's hospital room.
Daniel's stomach tightened.
He called security.
The man disappeared.
His apartment had been emptied.
But investigators found one thing.
A hidden laptop.
Inside was a folder.
PROJECT HAYES.
Daniel opened it.
There were photographs of him.
Lily.
His apartment.
His workplace.
Renee.
Everything.
Then one photograph made his blood run cold.
Sarah.
His dead wife.
May you like
Daniel stared at it.
The picture had been taken three months before she died.
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