Chapter 7 - WHAT DANIEL SIGNED
We went to a hotel.
Not home.
Not my mother’s house.
A hotel with two locks, security cameras, and a front desk that required ID.
Camila slept curled against me.
Daniel sat across the room.
“What did you sign?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“It was supposed to be temporary.”
“What?”
“A power of attorney.”
I stared at him.
“For what?”
“Some family financial stuff.”
“You signed your mother power of attorney?”
“She said she needed it to refinance her condo.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
He looked up.
“It may include marital financial documents.”
My stomach sank.
“How?”
“She said because we file taxes jointly, there were forms.”
I got out of bed.
“What forms?”
“I don’t know.”
“You signed documents you didn’t read?”
“I trusted her.”
I laughed quietly.
“Of course you did.”
I opened my laptop.
My marketing company had a secure employee portal with financial alerts. I checked my credit.
Two hard inquiries.
One new line of credit.
$75,000.
Opened three weeks earlier.
I had never applied for it.
Daniel stood behind me.
“What is that?”
“You tell me.”
“I swear I don’t know.”
The account used my home address and a scanned copy of my driver’s license.
Then I checked the attached application.
The emergency contact was Carmen.
The authorized secondary user was Daniel.
I turned slowly.
His face collapsed.
“I didn’t know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I didn’t.”
“Your name is on it.”
“I signed something she gave me.”
“And you never thought to tell your wife?”
He sat down.
I called the bank’s fraud department.
While I waited on hold, another email arrived.
From my company’s CFO.
SUBJECT: URGENT — REQUEST TO CHANGE PAYROLL DEPOSIT.
The message said someone had submitted paperwork to redirect my next commission payment.
The destination account belonged to a company I had never heard of.
Ruiz Family Holdings LLC.
I looked at Daniel.
He whispered, “My mother owns that.”
Then Camila woke up crying.
May you like
Not from a nightmare.
From the sound of someone trying the hotel-room door.
