Chapter 10 - The Second Signature
The new document changed everything about how I understood the danger.
Whoever was responsible wasn't simply defending an old mistake.
Someone was still using my name while a judge was examining the first papers.
Ruth asked the clerk to preserve the submission information and moved promptly to address the attempted filing.
I sat in the courthouse parking lot with Emma asleep in her car seat, waiting while my attorney finished the calls.
The baby monitor at home had been reassuring because it showed where my daughter was.
Now even a locked door felt like a question.
Ruth returned with a copy of the affidavit.
It claimed I'd signed a corrective statement before a notary that morning.
The purported notary was the same Wade mentioned by Cynthia.
"He is either very reckless or someone is putting his stamp on forms without permission," Ruth said.
"We need proof before deciding which."
I looked at the date, my printed name, and the smooth false signature.
"How many times can they do this?"
"Every attempt creates another trail," she said.
I wanted that to comfort me.
It didn't.
That night someone attempted to reset the password on my personal email account.
The security service blocked the attempt and provided a timestamp and device notification.
I changed passwords, enabled additional account protection, and preserved the alert.
Eric had known many of my old passwords.
That didn't prove he was behind this one, but it meant I had to treat our shared digital life as compromised.
Diane sent a long text accusing me of humiliating her in front of respectable people.
She ended with a line that made my stomach drop.
"Your father wouldn't recognize the person you've become."
My father had spent his final year reminding me never to confuse obedience with love.
I opened the drawer beside my bed and found the note he'd written on the morning I graduated college.
It said, You are allowed to say no, especially to people who demand yes.
I read it twice.
Then I replied to Diane with one sentence.
"Please communicate through our attorneys."
At midnight Cynthia left Ruth a voicemail.
She had found an old office calendar and a scanned invoice for notarial services.
The invoice wasn't billed to Diane's company.
May you like
It was billed to Eric personally.
