Chapter 9 - The Forged Signatures|
Two days after the brutal surgery, I was still confined to my hospital bed, my body aching immensely but my mind sharper than it had ever been. The door to my private room swung open, and Melissa—my absolute best friend and a highly skilled family attorney—walked in carrying a thick, intimidating stack of legal files.
"Hello, you resilient mother," Melissa said.
She offered a tight, forced smile, but her eyes conveyed a deadly seriousness. She placed a detailed credit report squarely on my untouched breakfast tray.
"What is it, Mel?" I asked, wincing slightly as I forced myself to sit up straighter.
"Claire, you need to brace yourself. Ethan didn't just siphon money from the company; he is actively trying to drain your entire future dry," she warned.
I picked up the document and scanned it. In just a few short days, Ethan had brazenly used my personal information to open two brand new credit cards and take out a massive personal loan of $38,000, all perfectly under my name.
"On the loan application, the bastard declared your income using a marketing job you quit months ago," Melissa pointed aggressively at the bolded lines of text. "But here is the absolute worst part. He used a forged electronic signature to finalize the application."
I stared closely at the date and time stamp next to the digital signature. A sudden, violent chill ran down my spine, freezing my blood.
May you like
"This timestamp..." I gasped in disbelief.
"Exactly," Melissa nodded, her gaze as sharp as a razor. "He digitally signed your name at the exact time you were fully under general anesthesia on the operating table delivering Lily. He took advantage of the moment you were completely unconscious to plunge you into massive debt."
