Chapter 5 - The Signature That Wasn't Mine
“Ask your sister why she agreed.”
Grant watched me as though he expected those words to destroy whatever trust I still had in Beth.
For one terrible second, they almost did.
I stared at the authorization form.
Beneath my forged signature was another name.
Beth.
My sister had signed as a witness.
I recognized the careful way she formed the letter B.
It was the same handwriting on every birthday card she'd given me since childhood.
“Why would she sign this?” I whispered.
Grant folded his arms.
“Because she understood that Rosie needed a stable environment.”
I looked up.
“You mean an environment where nobody questions you.”
He sighed.
“Evelyn, I'm trying to be reasonable.”
Roman reached across the table and turned the document toward himself.
“Is Grant Rosie's father?”
“No,” I answered.
“Does he have any court-appointed authority over her?”
“None.”
Roman looked at Grant.
“Then this paper doesn't give you the right to take her.”
Grant's expression hardened.
“My attorneys prepared it.”
“That doesn't make it valid.”
Roman pushed the document toward Anthony.
“Make sure the responding officers see this.”
Grant reached for it.
Anthony moved it out of his reach.
“You're making a mistake,” Grant said.
Roman didn't raise his voice.
“Then you can explain that to the police.”
Grant stared at him.
For a moment, his confidence slipped.
Then he looked at me.
“I truly wanted to marry you, Evelyn.”
The words surprised me.
Not because they were loving.
Because they sounded almost wounded.
“I gave you everything.”
I thought about the expensive apartment.
The clothes he'd chosen for me.
The restaurant dinners where he'd ordered for both of us.
The way he'd smiled when Rosie thanked him for something he hadn't wanted to give her.
“You gave us things,” I answered.
“That isn't the same as giving us a home.”
He shook his head.
“You don't understand how much pressure I'm under.”
“Then tell me.”
He looked toward Roman.
“My family's business has been falling apart for years. I've spent my entire adult life trying to keep it together.”
“What does that have to do with Rosie?”
Grant didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“What does any of that have to do with my daughter?”
He straightened his cuffs.
“You wouldn't understand.”
That was always his answer.
When I questioned the household rules.
When I asked why he didn't like Beth visiting.
When Rosie wanted to invite a friend over.
I wouldn't understand.
I suddenly realized how often he'd used those words to end a conversation.
“No,” I said quietly. “You're going to explain.”
Grant looked genuinely startled.
Then Roman spoke.
“Evelyn has asked you a question.”
Grant stared at him.
“And you're going to stand there pretending you don't have your own secrets?”
Roman didn't move.
Grant gave a bitter laugh.
“Ask him why he kept his brother's notebook hidden for nine years.”
I looked at Roman.
He didn't deny it.
“I already told her.”
Grant's smile disappeared.
Roman continued.
“And if Nico's records show that my family ignored safety complaints, I'll answer for that too.”
Grant shook his head.
“You have no idea what you're opening.”
“Then we'll find out together.”
For a moment, Grant looked almost frightened.
Then he turned and walked toward the hallway.
Anthony followed at a distance, keeping him in sight while the hotel security team watched the adjoining corridors.
I sank into my chair.
My hands were shaking.
Roman sat opposite me.
“Evelyn.”
I couldn't look at him.
“Beth signed it.”
“Yes.”
“She's the only family Rosie and I have.”
Roman waited.
“Our father died when I was seventeen. Beth was twenty-four.”
I swallowed.
“She worked two jobs so I could finish school. She used to pretend she'd already eaten when there wasn't enough dinner.”
Roman's expression softened.
“When Rosie was born, Beth bought her first little crib. She taught me how to give a baby a bath without getting water in her eyes.”
I began crying.
“She wouldn't just hand her over to Grant.”
“Then don't decide she did until we know what happened.”
I looked up.
He wasn't promising that Beth was innocent.
He was asking me not to abandon her without understanding.
It was different.
And I needed it.
Anthony returned carrying a slim blue notebook.
Its cover was cracked.
One corner had been repaired with black tape.
Roman stared at it for a long moment before touching it.
“Nico used to carry this everywhere.”
He opened the cover.
Inside was a photograph of two brothers standing beside a fishing boat.
One was Roman, younger and smiling.
The other had the same dark hair and strong jaw.
Nicholas DeLuca.
“He was twenty-seven when he died,” Roman said.
“He looks happy.”
“He was.”
Roman touched the photograph.
“Even when he was angry with me, he could make me laugh.”
He turned several pages.
The handwriting was small and neat.
There were dates, names, repair estimates, and descriptions of damaged equipment.
Some entries had been crossed out.
Others were underlined.
Then Roman stopped.
I watched his face change.
“What is it?”
He turned the notebook toward me.
Near the bottom of a page, Nico had written:
East service exit chained again. Beth witnessed. Grant notified.
The date was three days before the fire.
I stared at my sister's name.
“She knew?”
Roman nodded.
“She worked in the Mercer Street office.”
“But she never told me.”
“She might have been afraid.”
“Of Grant?”
“Possibly.”
I looked at the next page.
There was another entry.
Beth says she saw the order being delivered. Need to speak with her before meeting Roman.
The date was the morning of the fire.
Roman stared at those words.
His brother had been planning to speak with him.
And Beth had information Nico considered important.
“Roman,” I whispered.
He looked up.
“Does this mean my sister knows who ordered that exit locked?”
His expression became grave.
“It means Nico believed she did.”
May you like
He closed the notebook.
“And if Beth has been carrying that knowledge for nine years, Grant may have been threatening her long before he ever met you.”
