PART 2: CATHERINE MONTGOMERY DIDN’T KNOW HER SON HAD BETRAYED HER UNTIL HE ORDERED HER OUT OF HER OWN HOUSE

PART 2 — THE SIGNATURE THEY STOLE

Oliver turned another page toward her.

It held dates, garment descriptions, registration numbers, and royalty payments. The first entry was thirty-one years old.

Clarice Lace Bodice. Designer: Catherine Montgomery.

The next was Winter Rose. Then Alice Blue.

Names she had given dresses beneath a yellow lamp in the Queens apartment, stitching until her fingertips burned. Albert had photographed every gown before the brides collected them. She had believed he was merely proud.

“He and Henry formed the company around your designs,” Oliver said. “At first, two shops licensed the patterns. Then manufacturers wanted them. Albert protected your ownership because he knew you would give it away the moment David said he needed help.”

The words held no cruelty, which made them hurt more.

Catherine looked at the forged transfer. David had tried to move her shares into D.E. Family Management.

David and Emily.

“How much did they take?”

“We can prove they diverted one million, eight

hundred and forty thousand dollars in dividends. They also pledged your shares as collateral for a four-point-six-million-dollar credit line. The house, vacations, vehicles, and several failed investments appear to have been funded through it.”

Catherine heard Emily laughing in the dark hallway.

Just a few more months.

“And if the transfer had gone through?”

“They planned to petition to have you declared incapacitated,” Oliver said. “David would control the shares, sell part of the company, and place you in the least expensive facility that would accept you.”

Henry’s hand closed around the back of a chair.

Catherine felt cold dishwater around her wrists again. David had not spoken in anger. He had delivered a line from a plan.

Oliver slid another document forward.

“This emergency order freezes the accounts. It is ready to file. But the evidence also supports identity theft, forgery, wire fraud, financial exploitation, and conspiracy. The district

attorney will move faster if you sign a complaint.”

Henry did not tell her what to do.

“If I sign,” Catherine asked, “what happens to Peter and Alice?”

“If both parents are arrested, emergency guardianship will be necessary.”

Peter appeared in her mind with chocolate frosting on his chin. Alice asleep against her shoulder, one small fist curled in her nightgown.

Catherine pushed the complaint away.

“I need to see them first.”

By noon, rain striped the windows of Henry’s car.

Two black sedans waited half a block from the house. Oliver had arranged for a court officer and a forensic investigator to remain outside until Catherine gave permission.

She looked toward the upstairs window of her narrow bedroom.

The curtains were open.

Emily was inside, sweeping objects from the dresser and flinging drawers onto the bed. David appeared behind her. Even through rain-blurred glass, Catherine saw panic in his

hands.

Then Emily slapped him.

Catherine opened the car door.

Rain touched her face like cold pins as she crossed the pavement. Henry and Oliver followed, the officers several paces behind.

David opened the front door before she reached it. His practiced calm was gone. His hair stood unevenly, and a pale line circled his mouth.

“Mom.” His gaze jumped to Oliver. “What is this?”

Behind him, Emily descended the stairs holding Clarice’s wooden jewelry box.

She stopped on the final step.

Alice peered through the banister in pink pajamas.

Catherine kept her gaze on the box. “You said I misplaced them.”

“I was putting them somewhere safe.”

“In your bedroom?”

“It’s our house.”

“No,” Oliver said. “The property is now subject to a fraud-preservation order.”

He handed David a thick envelope. “You have been served with an asset freeze and an order prohibiting the destruction or concealment of evidence.”

David scanned the first page. His shoulders dropped.

Emily gave a brittle laugh. “Catherine gave us that money.”

“Some of it,” Catherine said. “I gave you the money from my apartment. I did not give you my company.”

Silence filled the foyer. Rain tapped the brass number plate outside.

David’s lips parted.

Emily turned toward him. “You said she didn’t know.”

Peter appeared at the top of the stairs, barefoot in the green sweatshirt Catherine had washed two nights earlier.

“Know what?” he asked.

“Go to your room,” David said.

Peter did not move.

Alice slipped through the banister and ran down. Emily reached for her, but the child went around her and pressed herself against Catherine’s coat.

“Mom,” David said, “we need to talk privately.”

“No more private talks.”

“You don’t understand what Albert left. There were liabilities. Henry has always wanted control.”

Henry stepped into the doorway, rain darkening his shoulders.

David stopped.

“Your father spent twenty-seven years protecting your mother’s work,” Henry said. “You spent three years trying to erase her name from it.”

Emily tightened her grip on the box. “She sewed dresses in an apartment. Let’s not pretend she built an empire.”

Oliver opened the blue folder. “Her designs financed the manufacturing company and its real estate division. Your lifestyle was funded by the woman you made sleep in the smallest room.”

“You think she lived here for free?” Emily snapped. “We took care of her.”

Peter came down one step. “She took care of us.”

David turned. “Peter.”

“She cooked. She cleaned. She stayed with Alice when she had a fever and you went away.”

“Go upstairs.”

Peter’s chin trembled. “You said Grandma was sick in her head. You told me not to believe her if she said things were missing.”

Catherine closed her eyes for one second.

When she opened them, David could not meet her gaze.

Peter pulled a small silver flash drive from beneath his sweatshirt.

Emily went rigid.

“I found this in Mom’s desk,” he said. “She kept hiding Grandma’s mail there. I thought it had vacation pictures.”

Emily moved toward him. The court officer stepped between them.

“What is on it?” Oliver asked.

“Videos. Mom talking to somebody. Dad signing papers.” Peter looked at Catherine. “They practiced your name.”

David sat down on the bottom stair. The sound his body made against the wood was small, almost childish.

Emily stared at Peter. “You stole from my desk.”

Catherine straightened. “He learned by watching you steal from my room.”

Oliver held out his hand. Peter descended and placed the drive in his palm.

David covered his face.

“You said it was temporary,” he told Emily.

“You signed everything.”

“You said we would repay it after the sale.”

“You wanted the house and the club. You wanted everyone to think you were successful.”

“And you wanted her gone.”

“So did you.”

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