Chapter 6 - The First Lawyer
Marcus did something he had avoided for fifteen years.
He called a lawyer before trying to solve the problem himself.
Elena Park practiced family law and complex financial divorce litigation in Atlanta.
By Friday morning, Marcus sat across from her in an office that smelled faintly of coffee and printer toner.
He brought everything Alicia had found.
Elena read quietly.
When she finished, she removed her glasses.
“You have three separate problems.”
“That sounds encouraging.”
“It isn’t.”
Marcus leaned back.
“Go ahead.”
“First, your marriage.”
He nodded.
“Second, possible business theft.”
Another nod.
“Third, possible identity misuse involving Brooke.”
Marcus looked through the glass wall toward downtown.
“What do I do first?”
“You stop thinking like a husband trying to get an explanation.”
That landed hard.
“What do I think like?”
“A father and business owner preserving evidence.”
Elena slid the documents back.
“Do not destroy anything. Do not access Vanessa’s private accounts without authorization. Do not threaten her. Do not offer money for silence. Do not tell her what Alicia has found unless your attorneys advise it.”
“I’m supposed to sit across from her at home?”
“Is she living there?”
“No.”
“Then don’t invite her back just because you feel guilty.”
Marcus frowned.
Elena noticed.
“You feel guilty.”
“I should’ve updated my will.”
“That may have hurt your marriage.”
“It gave her reason not to trust me.”
“It did not give her permission to take company money.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Marcus met her eyes.
Elena continued.
“People often confuse understanding a motive with excusing conduct. Don’t.”
After the meeting, Marcus drove home.
Vanessa was waiting in the driveway.
No car.
Her sister had dropped her off.
Marcus stepped from his truck.
“What are you doing here?”
“I live here.”
“Right now, we need some boundaries.”
She laughed.
“You hired a lawyer.”
“Yes.”
“Already?”
“Vanessa, somebody forged Brooke’s signature.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“The VBC account.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You’ve been digging through Brooke’s finances?”
“I’ve been looking at records tied to my company.”
“You don’t know what you’re looking at.”
“Then explain it.”
She looked toward the house.
“Not outside.”
They went inside.
Marcus stayed near the kitchen island.
Vanessa put her purse down.
“VBC was mine.”
“I know.”
“I set it up because your company refused to pay me properly.”
“My company paid you eighty-two thousand last year.”
“For doing three jobs.”
“You agreed to that salary.”
“Because whenever I asked for equity, you changed the subject.”
Marcus did not deny it.
She continued.
“VBC billed Reed Outdoor for administrative support I provided after hours.”
“Did I approve that arrangement?”
“You benefited from the work.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
“What about Brooke’s payroll?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Tax planning.”
Marcus almost could not believe the phrase.
“She never worked there.”
“It was family income.”
“You put wages in her name.”
“She benefited from everything I did.”
“Did she sign the bank card?”
Vanessa remained silent.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Did Brooke sign it?”
“No.”
The admission seemed to change the air.
“Who did?”
Vanessa whispered, “I did.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You forged your own daughter’s signature?”
“Don’t say it like that.”
“How should I say it?”
“I wasn’t stealing from her.”
“You used her identity.”
“To build something for us.”
“What?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
For the first time since the birthday, Marcus saw genuine fear rather than anger.
“A way out.”
“Out of what?”
“This.”
She gestured around the kitchen.
“This house where everything belongs to you. Your business. Your daughter’s account. Your old will. Your decisions.”
“You were planning to leave me?”
“I was planning to make sure I could.”
Marcus felt suddenly tired.
“Greenstone?”
She hesitated.
“Calvin helped.”
“With what?”
“Moving money.”
Marcus swallowed.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Then approximately.”
Vanessa looked toward the windows.
“One hundred thousand.”
“Alicia is already past one-eighty.”
Vanessa’s face went white.
That reaction told Marcus something.
She had not expected the number to be that high.
“Calvin took more than you knew.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“Maybe.”
“He wouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“He was helping me.”
Marcus almost laughed.
The front door opened.
Brooke stepped inside.
Vanessa spun around.
Neither had heard her.
Brooke looked at her mother.
“You forged my name?”
Vanessa took one step forward.
“Brooke—”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“You told Dad you were protecting me.”
“I was.”
“By making me part of something illegal?”
Vanessa’s expression crumpled.
“You were never going to be blamed.”
Brooke stared at her.
“That means you knew someone might get blamed.”
Vanessa had no response.
Brooke began crying.
Then she said the sentence that Marcus would remember long after every bank account had been closed and every court paper signed.
“I would rather have had nothing than get something this way.”
Vanessa looked as if Brooke had struck her.
Brooke walked upstairs.
Marcus waited.
Then he asked quietly:
“Where is the money, Vanessa?”
She sat at the kitchen table.
May you like
And for the first time, she answered.
“There’s an account in Savannah.”
