Chapter 8 - The Wife They Called Unstable
At Julian’s first court appearance, his attorney described him as a respected businessman with no criminal record.
Audrey watched from a separate room through a video link.
Julian wore a dark suit.
The bruises on her body were hidden beneath hospital clothing.
He looked composed.
She looked exhausted.
His attorney claimed Audrey had suffered an emotional breakdown after discovering marital debt.
He said she intentionally left the mansion undressed to humiliate her husband.
He suggested she provoked Julian while secretly recording him.
Then he presented text messages from Audrey’s number.
One read:
I swear I’ll destroy you if you don’t give me what I want.
Another said:
Maybe everyone will be better when one of us is dead.
Audrey stared at the screen.
“I never sent those.”
Thomas leaned forward.
The messages had been transmitted from Audrey’s account, but metadata showed they originated from a tablet connected to the mansion’s home network.
Julian controlled that tablet.
His attorney objected.
The judge allowed the evidence to be reviewed later but warned both sides not to make unsupported accusations.
Then Julian spoke.
“I love my wife,” he said. “I am deeply ashamed that I struck her. But she has not been herself for months.”
Audrey felt sick.
He admitted the one act witnessed by police so he could sound honest while denying everything else.
He continued.
“She became obsessed with money. She believed my mother and I were plotting against her. I begged her to get help.”
The judge asked whether Julian forged Audrey’s signatures.
Julian looked directly into the camera.
“No.”
Thomas opened the sealed folder.
The signatures looked convincing.
To prove forgery, they needed more than Audrey’s denial.
They needed the person who created them.
Financial investigators examined Julian’s computer.
The hard drive had been remotely wiped twenty minutes after his arrest.
The command originated from Eleanor’s mansion.
But Eleanor claimed a cyberattack.
Charles Merrick, the banker, denied knowing the signatures were false.
The doctor who signed Audrey’s mental evaluation said Julian provided medical records indicating she had severe anxiety.
Everyone blamed someone else.
The conspiracy had been designed like a chain.
No single person held the entire truth.
Then a forensic technician recovered fragments from the wiped computer.
One file contained scanned samples of Audrey’s handwriting.
Another included instructions for layering signatures onto legal documents.
The user account that created the files belonged to Julian’s executive assistant, Megan Price.
Police went to Megan’s apartment.
It was empty.
Her phone had been disconnected.
Her car was found at the airport.
Eleanor claimed Megan stole company money and fled.
Thomas did not believe it.
“People who flee usually take their passport,” he said.
Megan’s passport remained in her apartment.
May you like
So did her dog.
👉 The woman who could prove Julian forged Audrey’s name had not escaped—someone had made her disappear.
