Chapter 5 - The Account That Shouldn’t Exist
The number belonged to an account at Bellwether Private Bank.
Margot drove to the public library instead of using her home computer.
She searched the account name.
Ashdown Literary Holdings had been formed eleven years earlier—three months after Margot’s first novel reached the bestseller list.
Lucas had told her the royalties were deposited into their joint investment portfolio.
They were not.
Public filings showed that Ashdown owned two properties.
A lake house in Vermont.
And a luxury condominium in Boston.
Margot had never visited either one.
She called her longtime literary agent, Denise Harper.
“Did my royalty payment structure change eleven years ago?”
Denise became quiet.
“Lucas sent us revised banking instructions. You signed the authorization.”
“I don’t remember signing it.”
“I still have the original.”
“Send it to me.”
Minutes later, the document appeared.
The signature resembled Margot’s.
But the “M” leaned in the wrong direction.
Her real signature always began with a narrow upward stroke. This one began with a wide loop.
Someone had practiced it.
Denise lowered her voice.
“Margot, are you safe?”
The question almost broke her.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Come stay with me.”
“No. If I leave now, he’ll know.”
Margot printed the authorization and placed it inside a library book in her tote bag.
Then she noticed a handwritten notation at the bottom.
Approved by: E. Vale.
May you like
The unknown man on the phone suddenly had a possible name.
👉 When Margot searched for E. Vale, she discovered he wasn’t merely Lucas’s banker—he was the witness on her revised will.
