Chapter 6 - The Phantom Signature
The glowing numbers of the kitchen wall clock blinked mockingly at midnight, but Clara didn't see them. Her eyes were pinned to the smartphone screen, staring at the digital confirmation receipt of a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar wire transfer routed directly to a shell corporation in the Cayman Islands.
The authorizing signature beneath the transaction line bore her name. Flowing, precise, and completely forged.
"That's impossible," Clara whispered to the empty kitchen, her pulse hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
She zoomed in on the signature, comparing it stroke by stroke to her own handwriting. It was a digital clone, harvested perhaps from the closing documents of the house or the joint tax returns Julian had forced her to sign three months ago while she was half-drowned in grief over Leo's failing heart. But a digital authorization required a two-factor authentication code sent via text message to her personal mobile device.
Her phone had been in her hand the entire evening. She hadn't received any verification code.
Which meant someone had intercepted it. Or someone had cloned her device’s secure token while she slept at the hotel, or back when Julian had access to her bag during the hospital weeks.
Clara didn't hesitate. She dialed Marcus Vance’s private line, pacing across the polished hardwood floor of the kitchen. It rang twice before the attorney picked up, his voice gravelly with sleep and irritation.
"Clara? Do you know what time it is? If this is about Chloe kicking doors down again, my security team handles—"
"No, it's not Chloe," Clara interrupted, her voice sharp and trembling with adrenaline. "Marcus, I just got an automated fraud alert. A quarter of a million dollars was just drained from our joint commercial holding account and wired to the Caymans. And my name was used to authorize it."
A heavy pause settled over the line. All trace of sleep vanished from Marcus's voice. "Did you authorize it?"
"Of course not! Someone forged my digital signature and bypassed the two-factor authentication."
"That requires master administrator privileges on the bank's corporate portal," Marcus said, his tone turning razor-sharp. "Only two people had full administrative access to that account: you and Julian."
"Julian was locked out of this house hours ago, and he's been dodging Chloe's calls in a panic," Clara countered, her mind racing through the logistics. "He's too loud, too arrogant, and frankly too stupid to execute a clean international wire fraud without leaving a trail of breadcrumbs."
"Then who?" Marcus asked grimly.
May you like
"I don't know," Clara stared out the dark kitchen window into the empty street. "But we're going to find out. Call your forensic accountant. I want a full trace on that money before the sun comes up."
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