Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO SIGNED EVERYTHING
Thomas Vane arrived the next morning without being invited.
That alone told Dominic enough to be careful.
Thomas was sixty-eight, immaculate, soft-spoken, and had the unnerving habit of remembering financial details from decades earlier.
Dominic’s father had trusted him.
Daniel trusted him.
Dominic had trusted him.
Now Dominic wondered whether trust was simply the word his family used before discovering paperwork.
Thomas entered the office.
“I heard Daniel is missing.”
Dominic watched him.
“From whom?”
“Lenora.”
“Interesting.”
Thomas sat.
“Why?”
“She told me yesterday she didn’t know anything.”
Thomas’s expression barely changed.
“Perhaps she learned later.”
“Perhaps.”
Dominic pushed the Larkspur documents across the desk.
Thomas did not touch them.
“You recognize it?”
“No.”
Daniel had said Thomas’s name.
Dominic kept that to himself.
Samuel sat nearby, silent.
Dominic continued.
“Twenty-eight million was borrowed against this estate.”
Thomas frowned.
“That would require trust authorization.”
“It has it.”
“Then Daniel approved—”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“Stop using my missing brother as an explanation.”
Thomas leaned back.
“Dominic, I’m trying to help.”
“Good.”
He slid over Elena’s deed.
“Explain this.”
Thomas finally lost color.
Only slightly.
Samuel noticed.
Dominic definitely did.
Thomas picked up the copy.
“Where did you find it?”
“Wrong question.”
“It matters.”
“Why?”
Thomas placed it down.
“This transfer was superseded.”
“By a forged reversal.”
Thomas’s eyes lifted.
“That is an accusation.”
“Yes.”
“You signed the reversal.”
“No.”
“I witnessed the authorization.”
Dominic stood.
“You witnessed someone pretending to be me.”
Thomas’s voice remained calm.
“That is not how I remember it.”
Dominic walked around the desk.
“Then your memory is about to become very expensive.”
Samuel intervened.
“Thomas, county records show you certified the transaction.”
“I did.”
“Who presented Dominic’s authorization?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Daniel.”
Dominic stared.
Thomas continued.
“Your brother brought the paperwork.”
“When?”
“After Elena died.”
“Why?”
“He said Dominic wanted the estate restored to the main family trust for tax reasons.”
Dominic did not believe him.
But he also knew Daniel might have been manipulated.
“What did Daniel look like?”
Thomas frowned.
“What?”
“Was he alone?”
“Yes.”
“Did he speak to you directly?”
“Yes.”
“Did you verify with me?”
Thomas said nothing.
Dominic laughed without humor.
“Twenty-six years managing family money and you moved a hundred-million-dollar estate because my brother brought paper?”
“The signature was notarized.”
“By whom?”
Thomas paused.
Samuel leaned forward.
“That’s a good question.”
They checked.
Notary:
Lena Markham.
Deceased.
Car accident two years earlier.
Samuel looked toward Dominic.
“Convenient.”
Thomas stood.
“I will not sit here while you imply—”
“Sit.”
Dominic’s voice stopped him.
Thomas slowly lowered himself.
Dominic continued.
“Larkspur.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“There is nothing to tell.”
“Daniel disagrees.”
That worked.
Thomas’s eyes changed.
Only once.
But Dominic saw it.
“You spoke with him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Recently.”
“Where?”
Dominic smiled.
“Now you care where Daniel is.”
Thomas looked toward Samuel.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Why did my brother say your name?”
Thomas stood again.
This time Dominic let him.
“Ask Daniel.”
“I plan to.”
Thomas moved toward the door.
Samuel said:
“If you leave, I’m filing for a forensic freeze on every account you manage.”
Thomas stopped.
“You cannot.”
“I can.”
“You’ll paralyze the family companies.”
Samuel shrugged.
“Dominic owns them.”
Thomas looked at Dominic.
Dominic’s face gave nothing away.
Thomas slowly turned back.
“Fine.”
He sat.
“Larkspur was created years ago.”
“By you?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Your father.”
Dominic stared.
“My father has been dead eight years.”
“Yes.”
“Then who controls it now?”
Thomas looked tired.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I was instructed to process transfers. I never held beneficial ownership.”
“Who instructed you?”
Silence.
Dominic leaned forward.
“Thomas.”
Finally:
“Lenora.”
Samuel frowned.
“That explains only forty percent.”
Thomas looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
Samuel turned the statement.
Thomas read.
For the first time, genuine confusion crossed his face.
“This allocation is wrong.”
Dominic watched carefully.
“How wrong?”
“Lenora receives thirty percent.”
“Documents say forty.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“Then someone changed the agreement.”
“Who receives sixty?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic believed that part.
Maybe.
Thomas opened his briefcase.
He removed an old ledger.
“I brought this because I thought Daniel might have taken money.”
Dominic looked at him.
Thomas placed the ledger down.
Transactions from twenty years earlier.
Larkspur.
Ferraro property.
Trust distributions.
One recurring signature:
A. FERRARO.
Dominic’s father was Angelo Ferraro.
A.F.
Nothing unusual.
Until Samuel pointed to the dates.
The last transaction had occurred three years after Angelo died.
Dominic stared.
Someone had continued signing his dead father’s initials.
Thomas whispered:
“That is impossible.”
Dominic looked at him.
“No.”
His voice turned cold.
“In this family, apparently it’s routine.”
A security officer entered quickly.
“Sir.”
Dominic turned.
“We found Daniel.”
Everyone stood.
“Where?”
“Family hunting lodge near Geneva Lake.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
May you like
“But he’s been hurt.”
Dominic was moving before the sentence ended.
