PART6

Patricia became quiet.

“He said it was urgent. He told me the divorce was uncontested and that Hannah had already agreed to everything.”

“Did Barbara say anything?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“What?”

Patricia hesitated.

“She said you were difficult to deal with financially. She said you were only staying in the marriage because of the house.”

I almost laughed.

I had been the one paying for that house.

Patricia continued.

“But there was something else. Before they left, Barbara asked me whether a notarized document could be used to establish someone’s consent to a financial settlement.”

Margaret immediately wrote something down.

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her that notarization verifies certain signatures and acknowledgments. It doesn’t make an agreement legitimate if the person never signed or consented.”

“And what happened?”

“They left.”

Patricia’s voice began to shake.

“Three weeks later, I received a phone call from someone claiming to be Nate’s attorney. He asked me to confirm that Hannah had personally acknowledged the divorce agreement. I told him I couldn’t confirm that because I had never met her.”

I leaned forward.

“Then why does the document say you witnessed my acknowledgment?”

“I don’t know. I never authorized that wording.”

Margaret asked Patricia to preserve all original records and cooperate with the appropriate authorities.

Then Patricia said something else.

“There is one more thing.”

“What?” I asked.

“When Nate and Barbara came to my office, they brought another document. It wasn’t part of the divorce filing.”

“What document?”

“A beneficiary designation.”

My stomach tightened.

“For what?”

“An investment account. The account holder’s name was Hannah Whitmore.”

I looked at Margaret.

She immediately asked Patricia whether she had a copy.

“I don’t. But I remember the financial institution’s name.”

Patricia gave it to us.

Margaret wrote it down.

When the call ended, she sat quietly for several seconds.

Then she looked at me.

“We’re going to investigate that account.”

Two days later, the financial institution responded to our legal inquiry.

The account had been opened using my personal information.

It had received several deposits over the previous two years.

The total balance was $2.3 million.

But the beneficiary designation listed one person.

Barbara Whitmore.

I stared at the document.

“Why would my account name her as the beneficiary?”

Margaret shook her head.

“That’s what we’re trying to establish.”

I looked at the signature.

It resembled mine.

But the handwriting was wrong.

Again.

Another signature.

Another document.

Another piece of my identity used without permission.

I remembered Nate asking me to provide copies of my driver’s license several years earlier.

He had said he needed them for insurance updates.

I remembered handing them to him without hesitation.

We were married.

I trusted him.

That was the part that hurt most.

Margaret closed the folder.

“Hannah, I want you to understand something. We have not established who personally prepared every document. But the pattern is serious enough that we’re going to pursue a formal investigation.”

I nodded.

Then I asked the question that had been sitting in my mind since the beginning.

“What happens to the fifty million?”

“Your uncle’s trust is separate from the disputed marital property. We have already instructed the estate’s trustees not to distribute anything to Nate or any company connected to him. We’ll also ensure the inheritance is handled through the proper legal process.”

I breathed out.

For the first time in days, I felt a little relief.

Then Margaret’s phone rang.

She listened for a moment.

Her expression changed.

“What happened?” I asked when she hung up.

“Nate has filed an emergency motion.”

“For what?”

“To prevent you from transferring, investing, or distributing the inheritance until the divorce and property disputes are resolved.”

I stared at her.

“He divorced me nine months ago. Now he wants to stop me from using my own inheritance?”

“Apparently.”

I shook my head.

“Does he have a claim?”

“That will be for the court to determine. But the timing is certainly something we will address.”

I looked at the inheritance statement.

Fifty million dollars.

A number that had once represented freedom.

Now it had become the center of a battle I never asked to fight.

But I wasn’t going to surrender it.

Not to Nate.

Not to Barbara.

Not to anyone.

That evening, Nate called again.

This time, I answered.

“Hannah.”

His voice was softer than I remembered.

“We need to stop this.”

“Stop what?”

“This legal nonsense.”

I said nothing.

“Your lawyer is making accusations. My mother is upset. People are asking questions.”

“Then perhaps you should answer them.”

He sighed.

“Listen. I know things look bad.”

“Do they?”

“I made some decisions. Some paperwork was handled incorrectly. But none of this was meant to hurt you.”

I stared at the hotel window.

“Did you file for divorce without telling me?”

Silence.

“Did you forge my signature?”

“Hannah—”

“Did you transfer $850,000 from my emergency account?”

“I was managing our finances.”

“Did you use our house as collateral for a $1.2 million loan?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Did you create a beneficiary account with my name and your mother’s as the beneficiary?”

He didn’t answer.

I closed my eyes.

“Nate, I asked you one question. Did you do these things?”

His voice became colder.

“You don’t understand how marriage works. Everything we built was supposed to benefit the family.”

“What family?”

“Our family.”

“The family you told the court no longer existed?”

He exhaled sharply.

“You’re twisting everything.”

“I’m reading documents with my name on them.”

Then he said something that made my heart stop.

“Your uncle wasn’t supposed to leave you that much money.”

I froze.

“What did you just say?”

He realized his mistake.

“I mean, nobody expected it to be that much.”

“How did you know he was leaving me money?”

“I didn’t.”

“Nate.”

He became angry.

“Barbara knew your uncle had money. Everybody knew. Why are you acting like this is some secret?”

“My uncle and I barely spoke.”

“Exactly. That’s why this is so ridiculous. You suddenly get fifty million dollars, and now you want to destroy everyone who helped you.”

I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

CONTINUE FOR NEXT PART7…