Chapter 5 - Grant's Signature
The authorization carried Grant’s electronic signature.
I stopped breathing.
Grant stared at the document on Melissa’s tablet.
“I didn't sign that.”
Evelyn said nothing.
I looked at my husband.
“You expect me to believe you?”
“Yes.”
“You denied Maddie yesterday.”
His face twisted.
“I was angry.”
“No. You were ashamed.”
He couldn't argue with that.
Grant had spent years pretending his infertility didn't hurt him.
Around me, he called our donor conception “our miracle.”
Around Evelyn, apparently, it was something else.
But an ugly insecurity didn't prove he had altered my medical treatment.
Melissa explained that the trust authorization had been submitted through Grant’s family financial portal.
Someone had used his credentials.
“Who had access?” I asked.
Grant looked toward Evelyn.
“My mother handled the trust administration then.”
Evelyn snapped, “That proves nothing.”
Melissa nodded cautiously.
“She’s correct. It doesn't establish who submitted it.”
Then she showed us something else.
The payment memo contained only two words:
CONSULTATION — N.V.
Dr. Nathan Vale.
I demanded his current contact information.
The clinic couldn't provide it.
So I found an attorney instead.
Her name was Dana Brooks, and after reviewing the documents, she told me not to confront anyone alone again.
“If your medical consent was altered,” she said, “this is bigger than a family dispute.”
“What can we prove?”
“Not enough yet.”
Those words frustrated me.
I wanted justice immediately.
Instead, Dana made me slow down.
Preserve every message.
Request certified records.
Document Maddie’s treatment by Evelyn.
Keep Grant away unless I chose otherwise.
That evening, Grant came to Claire’s house.
He stood outside.
I wouldn't let him in.
“I need to tell you something,” he said through the door.
“What?”
“I knew my mother talked to Vale.”
My stomach tightened.
“But I didn't know she changed anything.”
“When?”
“Before the procedure.”
I closed my eyes.
Another lie.
Then Grant said the sentence that changed the investigation again.
“She asked me for something that week.”
“What?”
May you like
“A DNA sample.”
👉 Grant admitted Evelyn had taken his DNA before my fertility procedure—but he claimed the sample she really wanted wasn't his.
