Chapter 9 - Dad's Signature
Dad stared at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Mia pulled out her phone.
She had screenshots.
Months earlier, Lauren texted her a photograph of a preapproved credit offer in my name.
Then another message:
Michael signs everything without reading. Leave the authorization page with the insurance forms.
Mia replied:
Will he know it's for Claire?
Lauren:
He won't notice.
Dad sat down on the porch step.
The application included his signature as household verifier.
His real signature.
He had signed a stack of papers Lauren put in front of him after dinner.
He had not read them.
Technically, Mia had been right.
His signature helped open the account.
Not knowingly.
Still his.
Dad looked at me.
"I'm sorry."
I was too tired to accept another apology yet.
Mia wiped her eyes.
"Mom said it was okay."
Dad's voice was quiet.
"Did you know it was in Claire's name?"
She hesitated.
"Yes."
"Then you knew it wasn't okay."
Mia looked away.
That was the first time Dad refused to let Lauren absorb all of Mia's responsibility.
It was also the first time he accepted his own.
We met with the police that afternoon.
Because Mia was seventeen, the process was complicated. Dad did not demand the harshest possible response. Neither did I.
I wanted the debt removed from my name.
I wanted the truth documented.
I wanted it to stop.
The officer asked if there were other financial issues.
Dad laughed without humor.
"How much time do you have?"
Then the Harper Foundation called.
They had reviewed the fraudulent withdrawal email.
My interview was restored.
But there was a problem.
One of the foundation board members was Lauren's boss.
And according to the committee chair, Lauren had already contacted him personally.
She told him I was unstable.
May you like
She told him I had fabricated the entire family conflict for attention.
And she asked him to remove me from consideration.
