Chapter 6 - The Authority I Gave Her
Portia finally agreed to speak through lawyers.
Not at home.
Not alone.
We met in Daniel’s office with her attorney sitting beside her.
The bruise on Portia’s face had darkened.
Seeing it made shame move through me again.
Before discussing anything else, I said, “I should not have struck you.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“That’s your opening strategy?”
“It isn’t strategy.”
Her lawyer lifted a hand. “Let’s stay focused.”
I did.
I placed the Blue Vale and Harrow Crest records on the table.
Portia barely glanced down.
“Harrow Crest is a family asset-management vehicle.”
“It’s registered to you.”
“Because I created it.”
“With Mercer money?”
“With authority you gave me.”
She slid a document toward me.
A limited financial power of attorney.
My signature was real.
I remembered signing it six months after my mother became ill, when hospital visits, board meetings, and caring for a newborn had turned my life into one long emergency.
Portia had offered to handle household and family investment paperwork.
I had trusted my wife.
The document allowed her to process approved transfers.
It did not allow her to approve them herself.
“You used my credentials,” I said.
Portia smiled faintly. “Prove I did.”
“The device was yours.”
“A household laptop used by staff.”
“Then why did the money end up in your company?”
“Because Harrow Crest purchased conservation receivables that Mercer Holdings owed.”
Flora, seated behind me, leaned forward.
“What receivables?”
Portia’s attorney passed Daniel a stack of invoices.
They appeared legitimate.
Restoration storage, climate-control expenses, insurance float, transport deposits.
Almost $470,000 worth.
For twenty minutes, Portia transformed what looked like theft into an accounting dispute.
That was her talent.
Not lying badly.
Building explanations complicated enough that every accusation required another week of work.
Then Cedric’s name surfaced.
Portia claimed he had approved the arrangement verbally.
My father, waiting in another room, was brought in.
He denied it immediately.
Portia didn’t flinch.
“You told me to clean up Evelyn’s conservation mess.”
“I told you to pay legitimate invoices.”
“These were legitimate.”
“Then why hide the company?”
“I didn’t.”
Cedric slammed his palm on the table.
“You lied to my son.”
Portia finally showed anger.
“I kept this family functioning while Evelyn accused everyone around her and Alonzo disappeared into grief.”
I stood.
“Do not use my mother’s death as cover.”
Her expression changed.
“Then ask your father what he signed three months before she died.”
Cedric went still.
Again.
That tiny reaction mattered more than Portia’s words.
“What did you sign?”
He looked at me and said, “A continuity resolution.”
Portia smiled.
I understood the trap.
Even if page seventeen had been altered, she had a second document.
May you like
And this one might carry Cedric’s genuine signature.
📖 Cedric’s hidden resolution gave Portia a legal foothold we hadn’t expected, and learning why he signed it would damage my trust in him even further. 👇
