Chapter 7 - NORTHLINE FAMILY MEDIA
I searched every Northline document on the tablet.
The company had been formed nine months earlier.
Before the yellow hat.
Before Vanessa began telling Diane I was unstable.
Before Lily started preschool.
That timeline mattered.
Vanessa hadn’t stumbled into the idea of monetizing Lily.
Someone had planned a business first.
Northline’s contract called Lily a “recurring minor participant.”
It described family-centered lifestyle content.
No punishments.
No humiliation.
No haircut.
On paper, it looked harmless.
But the payment reports told a different story.
The first month brought in $340.
The second, $1,100.
Then the amounts climbed.
$3,800.
$7,200.
$11,600.
The largest increase started after the yellow-hat episodes.
Cruelty paid better.
I followed the transaction trail.
Viewer payments went to Northline.
Northline kept forty percent.
The remaining sixty percent moved into an account labeled LILY CARTER MINOR EARNINGS.
That sounded legitimate.
Until I opened the withdrawal history.
Money came in.
Then almost immediately went out.
Transfers to Vanessa.
Transfers to Olivia Mercer.
Transfers marked SCHOOL CONSULTING.
One went to Brooke.
Another went to Diane.
My mother.
$4,000.
I stared at it.
Then my phone rang.
Diane.
I answered.
“I watched the livestream.”
Her voice sounded different.
Small.
“Do you believe me now?”
“Yes.”
I said nothing.
“I didn’t know.”
“You received money from Northline.”
Silence.
There it was again.
“What money?”
“Four thousand dollars.”
Diane inhaled slowly.
“Vanessa told me it came from her media consulting.”
“She sent it through Lily’s earnings account.”
“What?”
“I’m looking at the transaction.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Why did she pay you?”
“For helping with expenses.”
“What expenses?”
“Your father’s old storage unit.”
I stopped.
“Our father has been dead eight years.”
“I know.”
“Why are you paying for his storage?”
“Family records.”
“How much does it cost?”
“About two thousand a year.”
“Then why did Vanessa give you four?”
Diane didn’t answer.
“Mom?”
“She said the extra was for keeping records organized.”
I leaned against the counter.
Everybody around Vanessa seemed to have received money.
Brooke.
Diane.
Olivia.
Every relationship had a financial thread.
“You gave Vanessa access to Dad’s records?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Old family papers. Tax files. Birth certificates.”
My entire body went cold.
“Birth certificates?”
“Copies.”
“Lily’s?”
A long pause.
“Possibly.”
I closed my eyes.
Vanessa needed identity documents to open financial accounts involving a minor.
“Did you give her Lily’s Social Security information?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I don’t remember.”
“You gave someone who was secretly monetizing my daughter access to her identity records.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I didn’t.”
I believed she hadn’t known everything.
That didn’t mean she was innocent.
Negligence can still become useful to someone dangerous.
I asked for the storage-unit information.
Diane gave me the address.
Then she said, “Daniel, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“When Vanessa started asking about Lily’s birth records, she wasn’t alone.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Who was with her?”
“Olivia.”
Northline’s owner.
“Why?”
“She said they needed proof of age for a child-media account.”
“And you accepted that?”
“They showed me a contract with your signature.”
The forged consent.
I understood.
Vanessa hadn’t simply lied to Diane.
She brought documents.
Built credibility.
Used my mother’s trust in paperwork.
I returned to the tablet.
The minor-earnings account had a custodian listed.
Not Vanessa.
Not Olivia.
Diane Carter.
I stared at my mother’s name.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“You are legally listed as custodian of Lily’s earnings account.”
Silence.
“I never signed anything.”
“Your name is here.”
“I swear to you, Daniel, I did not open an account.”
I believed her fear.
Then I checked the signature page.
Diane’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Perfect.
Except my mother had arthritis.
For three years, every handwritten signature she made had a visible tremor.
This one was smooth.
Someone had forged Diane too.
The conspiracy wasn’t only using my identity.
May you like
It was consuming every name it touched.
📖 Find out who forged Diane’s signature to control Lily’s earnings account—and why the same device had also been used to sign documents in my name in CHAPTER 8. 👇
