Chapter 5 - THE HOUSE THEY SHARED
Naomi called the police nonemergency line while Jenna slipped through the diner’s kitchen and left with a cook who agreed to walk her to another exit.
Mark drove away before an officer arrived.
He texted Sophie repeatedly.
I wasn’t following you.
I came to explain.
Naomi is turning this into something it isn’t.
Sophie did not respond.
The next morning, attorney Rachel Kim met her at Naomi’s apartment.
Rachel explained that the marriage was legally valid despite the reception disaster. The officiant had signed the license after the ceremony, and the witnesses had signed before dinner.
“An annulment isn’t automatic,” Rachel said. “Fraud has a narrow legal meaning. We can file for divorce, seek temporary financial restrictions, and preserve evidence. The physical assault is separate.”
“My mother-in-law assaulted me. Mark stood there laughing.”
“You can make a police report. That doesn’t guarantee charges, but documenting it matters.”
Sophie looked at the stained dress hanging from Naomi’s bathroom door.
“I want to go to the townhouse.”
“Not alone,” Rachel said.
Mark was not home when Sophie arrived with Naomi and an off-duty security officer Rachel recommended.
The townhouse looked untouched. Their breakfast mugs remained in the sink. Mark’s running shoes sat beside the stairs. Wedding cards covered the dining table.
Sophie began with practical things: laptop, passport, medication, work clothes, her grandmother’s dishes.
In Mark’s office, the bottom drawer of his filing cabinet was locked.
The security officer would not allow her to force it open.
Sophie photographed the cabinet and moved to the closet.
On the top shelf, behind a garment bag, she found a cardboard mailing tube. Inside was a second copy of her condominium appraisal.
The inspection date was six weeks earlier.
Sophie checked her calendar. That afternoon, Mark had told her a plumber needed access to investigate a leak in the unit below.
There had been no plumber.
The appraisal report identified the person who admitted the appraiser to the property.
Mark Dalton, owner’s fiancé.
Sophie called her condo building manager.
“Mark said you authorized the visit,” the manager told her. “He had your key and knew the alarm code.”
Sophie thanked him and ended the call.
Naomi stood in the doorway. “What else did he access?”
Sophie opened the desk where she used to keep financial records before moving most of them to cloud storage.
Copies of her tax returns were gone.
So were two mortgage statements and a document showing the balance in her retirement account.
She had assumed she misplaced them during the move.
Downstairs, the security officer called her name.
A courier stood outside holding an envelope addressed to Sophie.
It came from James River Community Bank.
Inside was a final notice requesting her direct confirmation of the commercial loan guaranty.
Attached was the personal financial statement from the wedding folder.
At the bottom, beside her typed name, someone had inserted an electronic signature.
May you like
The timestamp showed it had been added during the rehearsal dinner.
While Sophie was greeting Mark’s relatives, someone had attempted to sign away the security of her home.
