Chapter 4 - James’s Name
Ethan did not speak for almost a minute.
James looked as shocked as he felt.
“That’s impossible.”
Sarah remained on speakerphone.
“The disclosure lists you.”
“I have never owned Alpine Vista.”
“James—”
“I’m telling you I haven’t.”
Ethan stared at his father.
“Did Mom know?”
James looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
The wrong answer.
Everything inside Ethan tightened.
“You’re on her audit.”
“Yes.”
“And she told you where the audit records were.”
“She told me where some records were.”
“You said you didn’t know what she found.”
“I didn’t.”
“Are you lying?”
“No.”
Fast.
Direct.
Ethan wanted to believe him.
That frightened him.
He had wanted to believe Victoria too, once.
James grabbed his laptop.
“I have never incorporated anything in Nevada. I have never signed an Alpine Vista agreement.”
Sarah said, “Marissa agrees the ownership record needs verification.”
James paced.
“Could my identity have been used?”
“Possibly.”
Ethan almost laughed.
That word again.
James turned toward him.
“I know how this looks.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“You were married to Mom.”
“Divorced.”
“You helped start the lodge.”
“Yes.”
“You know the accounts.”
“I haven’t had financial authority at Silver Pines in seven years.”
“But your name is attached to the company taking money.”
“Yes.”
Ethan’s eyes burned.
“So why should I believe you?”
James went still.
Then he said something Ethan did not expect.
“You shouldn’t.”
Ethan frowned.
James sat opposite him.
“Not because I’m guilty. Because asking you to believe me based on being your father is exactly the kind of thing that got this family into trouble.”
Ethan looked away.
James continued.
“Check it.”
“Check what?”
“Everything.”
By evening, attorney Daniel Foster had engaged separate counsel for James because their interests might conflict.
James no longer participated in decisions involving the audit.
He voluntarily turned over relevant devices and banking records to forensic accountants.
Ethan watched it happen.
No shouting.
No dramatic innocence speech.
Just paperwork.
Maybe that was what truth looked like when someone expected to be tested.
Victoria called Ethan that night.
He almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“What?”
“I assume you’ve heard.”
“About Dad?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want?”
“To save you another disappointment.”
Ethan stood by his bedroom window.
Snow pressed against the glass.
“You didn’t call to help.”
“You’re sixteen. You think everyone who sounds calm is honest.”
“Like you?”
Victoria laughed softly.
“Your father and mother spent years fighting about money.”
“They fought about the lodge.”
“They fought about debt. Ownership. Control.”
“What does that have to do with Alpine Vista?”
“Ask James why Claire divorced him.”
Ethan’s throat tightened.
“They told me they wanted different lives.”
“That is what parents tell children.”
“Why did she really?”
Victoria paused.
“Your father had an affair.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“No.”
“Ask him.”
“You’re lying.”
“Maybe.”
Then Victoria used Daniel’s favorite word against him.
“But verify.”
She ended the call.
Ethan stood in the dark.
He had never asked why his parents divorced beyond the explanation they gave him.
Different priorities.
Too much fighting.
Better apart.
He went downstairs.
James was at the kitchen table sorting documents for his attorney.
Ethan stood in the doorway.
“Did you cheat on Mom?”
James’s hands stopped.
That was the answer.
Ethan felt sick.
“Did you?”
James closed the folder.
“Yes.”
The room tilted.
“When?”
“You were nine.”
“With who?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Her name was Natalie.”
“How long?”
“Three months.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“Victoria was right.”
“About that.”
“What else is she right about?”
“I don’t know.”
“You and Mom lied to me.”
“We decided not to put adult betrayal on a nine-year-old.”
“And then what age were you going to tell me?”
James looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan’s anger surged.
“Everyone decides what I can handle.”
“You’re right.”
“Stop saying that!”
James flinched.
Ethan continued.
“Mom hides dying. You hide cheating. Victoria hides files. Sarah hides the will. Everyone keeps saying it was protection.”
James stood.
“I never said the affair was protection.”
“No, you just buried it.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That made Ethan even angrier.
He went upstairs and locked his door.
At midnight, Sarah texted.
I know today was awful. You do not need to answer. Your mom left one instruction specifically about James: “Do not protect him from the audit because he is Ethan’s father. Clear him or implicate him the same way you would anyone else.”
Ethan read it three times.
Claire had not assumed James innocent.
She had not assumed him guilty.
She wanted evidence.
He hated her for being dead and still more reasonable than everyone alive.
The next afternoon, Marissa Chen came to speak with Ethan and James separately.
She had verified the Nevada records.
The beneficial ownership filing naming James used a digital signature.
At first glance, authentic.
But metadata showed the signature certificate came from a device registered not to James.
To Victoria’s private office.
James closed his eyes.
Ethan leaned forward.
“So she forged him?”
Marissa raised a hand.
“We have evidence a filing associated with her device used his digital identity. We do not yet know who created it.”
Still careful.
Always careful.
Marissa continued.
“There’s more.”
Alpine Vista transferred almost all incoming Silver Pines funds onward.
Some paid contractors.
Some returned to accounts controlled by Lucas.
And $410,000 moved to a numbered investment account.
“Whose?” Ethan asked.
Marissa looked at James.
“An account that eventually funded the purchase of a condominium in London.”
“Lucas?”
“No.”
“Victoria?”
“No.”
Marissa slid a photograph across the table.
The title records named the owner.
May you like
Natalie Quinn.
The woman James had cheated with seven years earlier.
