Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN HE USED AS A WEAPON
Patricia agreed to meet after Marisol sent her copies of Daniel’s email and the brokerage statements.
We met in my attorney’s office. Patricia arrived in the same black pants she had worn when she tore my dress, but the certainty had left her face.
“I never received three hundred thousand dollars,” she said.
“You received one hundred and twelve thousand,” Marisol replied. “The rest passed through your company.”
“Daniel handled the accounts.”
“You signed tax filings.”
“He told me where to sign.”
The phrase sounded familiar.
Daniel had used the same method with both of us: place papers in front of a tired or frightened woman, reduce the decision to loyalty, and make questions feel like betrayal.
Patricia admitted notarizing my supposed signatures.
She claimed Daniel told her I had signed earlier copies and was unavailable when the investors demanded replacements.
“You knew I kept the house separate,” I said.
“He said you had agreed to change that after the baby.”
“There was no baby.”
Patricia looked down.
Two years earlier, I had suffered an early miscarriage. Daniel told his mother we planned to try again and that I wanted the house moved into a family trust before a child arrived.
He had turned my private loss into a financial promise.
“You believed him because believing him benefited you,” I said.
Patricia’s eyes hardened. “And you believed him when investors praised your work but wrote his name on the checks.”
The accusation was cruel.
It was also accurate.
I had ignored Daniel taking credit because I enjoyed the house renovations, the travel, and the respect his apparent success brought us. I told myself marriage meant building something together.
In practice, Daniel owned the company while I absorbed the risk without a title.
Patricia opened her handbag and removed a small ledger.
She had recorded every transfer from the sale of her condominium because she did not trust online banking. Several entries did not match Daniel’s reports.
One payment of $175,000 was marked RESERVE—CLAIRE GUARANTEE.
Daniel had told her the money was being held to pay down my mortgage once the bridge loan closed.
It had gone to Caroline’s brokerage account instead.
Patricia began to understand that she had not been Daniel’s partner.
She had been another source of cash and a useful witness against me.
Then Marisol found a note written beside the final ledger entry.
Daniel had instructed Patricia to arrive at my house before the investor luncheon and obtain my signature “by any means necessary.”
Patricia closed the ledger.
“I thought he was desperate.”
“He was,” I said. “Just not for the reason he gave you.”
That evening, Caroline’s attorney contacted mine.
Caroline wanted to cooperate.
May you like
She claimed Daniel had prepared documents making Patricia appear to control every shell company and making me responsible for every personal guarantee.
If Riverbend collapsed, he intended to blame both of us.
