Chapter 8: My Father's Confession
I drove to my father's house so quickly that I barely remembered the journey.
The authorization form remained open on my phone, its image burned into my mind.
My name.
My forged signature.
My father's witness declaration.
Three months earlier, I had been working back-to-back shifts during a staffing shortage. I had barely seen my family, much less signed financial documents for Felicity.
When I arrived, my father was in the garage, sorting through boxes of old paperwork.
He looked up as I entered.
“Jenna? What are you doing here?””
I held out my phone.
“Did you witness me signing this?””
He glanced at the screen.
The color drained from his face.
“Where did you get that?””
“Montgomery Global received it from Graham Pike. It says I agreed to guarantee Felicity's investment account three months ago.””
Dad lowered the box in his hands.
“I never saw that document.””
“Your signature is right there.””
He stared at it for several seconds.
Then he shook his head.
“I signed a witness declaration for Felicity. She told me you had already agreed to help her, and that she needed someone to confirm your identity.””
My stomach twisted.
“Did you actually see me sign anything?””
“No.””
The answer came so quickly that I almost stepped backward.
“You signed a document claiming you witnessed something you never saw?””
He pressed both hands against the workbench.
“Jenna, she told me it was an administrative requirement. She said you'd given permission over the phone.””
“Did you call me to verify that?””
He didn't answer.
“Dad!””
“No,” he whispered.
“I didn't.””
I felt something inside me go still.
“You risked your house. You gave her my documents. And now you've signed a statement claiming I agreed to take responsibility for her debt without even asking me.””
His eyes filled with tears.
“I thought I was helping her.””
“You didn't help her. You helped her avoid telling you the truth.””
He sank onto an old wooden stool.
For the first time, I saw how frightened he was.
Not the fear of losing an argument or disappointing his wife. This was the fear of a man who had finally realized that protecting his favorite child might have destroyed the trust of everyone around him.
“I made a terrible mistake,” he said.
“Yes, you did.””
He looked up.
“Can you forgive me?””
I stared at him.
“I don't know.””
The words hurt him, but I couldn't take them back.
Forgiveness wasn't a switch I could flip because he was crying. My identity had been used without permission. My financial security might have been compromised. And if the false guarantee had been accepted, I could have faced months or years of legal uncertainty proving I hadn't signed it.
I wasn't ready to tell him everything would be fine.
“Did Felicity ask you to sign anything else?”” I asked.
Dad wiped his eyes.
“She gave me a folder last winter. There were several pages, and she said they were related to the investment program. I signed the last page because she told me the details had already been reviewed by the company's legal department.””
“Did you read them?””
“Not carefully enough.””
“Do you still have the folder?””
He nodded toward a metal cabinet in the corner.
We spent the next twenty minutes going through the papers.
Most were ordinary correspondence, repayment schedules, and statements from the private lender. Then I found a copy of a letter addressed to my father.
It warned that the investment account had failed to meet its reserve requirement and that the guarantors might be contacted if the shortfall wasn't corrected.
The letter was dated four months earlier.
I handed it to him.
“Did you know about this?””
He looked at the page.
“Yes.””
“And you didn't tell me that my name might be connected to the account?””
“I didn't know your name was on it until you told me yesterday.””
“Then why didn't you ask Felicity to explain the shortfall?””
“I did. She said the investment partner was delayed in making a payment.””
“Did you believe her?””
He looked away.
“I wanted to.””
That was the heart of it.
My father hadn't necessarily understood every transaction, but he had chosen to believe Felicity because accepting her explanations was easier than confronting the possibility that she had made reckless decisions.
I placed the papers into a folder.
“You need to give these to the investigators.””
He looked alarmed.
“Jenna, if they see these documents, they could seize the house.””
“They need to know what happened.””
“What if Felicity goes to prison?””
I took a slow breath.
“Then that will depend on what she did, what the evidence proves, and what the authorities decide. I can't promise you a particular outcome.””
He stared at me.
“You sound just like a lawyer.””
“No. I sound like someone who has spent years watching people suffer because they waited too long to tell the truth.””
My father lowered his head.
“I don't know how to fix this.””
“Start by telling the truth.””
He nodded reluctantly.
That afternoon, he agreed to provide the documents to Martin Reeves and cooperate with the formal review. I also arranged to consult an independent attorney about protecting my identity and disputing any unauthorized guarantee.
For the first time since the wedding, I felt as though I was doing something constructive rather than simply reacting to another crisis.
Then Felicity arrived.
She came through the garage door wearing oversized sunglasses and a cream-colored coat. Her eyes were swollen, and her hands trembled as she removed her gloves.
“Dad told me you were here.””
I stepped away from the papers.
“What do you want?””
She looked at the folder in my hands.
“Please tell me you haven't given them everything.””
“I haven't given anyone anything yet. But Dad has agreed to cooperate.””
Her face crumpled.
“You can't do this to me.””
“I'm not doing anything to you, Felicity. I'm protecting myself.””
She moved closer.
“I know I made mistakes. I know I shouldn't have used your name. But I never thought you'd let things go this far.””
I stared at her.
“You used my identity without my permission.””
“I was going to remove it.””
“When?””
“When I had the money to replace the guarantee.””
“And what would have happened if the company discovered it before then?””
She looked down.
“I don't know.””
“You might have blamed someone else. You already blamed Olivia.””
Her head snapped up.
“Olivia doesn't understand the whole situation.””
“Then explain it to the investigators.””
She began crying.
“I can't. Graham told me the account would be corrected. He said the missing repayment was temporary, and that if I kept the documents in order, nobody would lose anything.””
“Did you know my signature wasn't genuine?””
She covered her mouth.
That silence told me more than her excuses had.
Finally, she whispered, “Yes.””
My father made a broken sound behind us.
I felt as though the floor had dropped beneath my feet.
“You knew?””
“I thought I could fix it before anyone noticed.””
“How could you do that to me?””
“I was desperate!””
“So was I when I was raising Amara alone. I was terrified when I couldn't pay for my car repairs. I was exhausted when I worked overnight shifts and came home to a child who needed breakfast. But I never forged your signature.””
Felicity sobbed.
“I know.””
“No, you don't. Because if you did, you wouldn't have done this.””
She sank onto a stool.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
Then she lifted her head.
“Graham told me he could make everything disappear. He said the original documents had been replaced and that the company would never know.””
“Who replaced them?””
“I don't know exactly.””
“Felicity.””
She looked at me, frightened.
“He handled the investment paperwork. He told me which forms to submit. He said the client account adjustments were temporary and that the missing money would be returned after the next funding round.””
“Did he tell you to use my identity?””
She nodded.
The garage seemed to go silent around us.
“What exactly did he say?””
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“He said the account needed a guarantor with a clean financial history. He told me that because you had no connection to the company, your name wouldn't raise questions.””
I felt sick.
“So you agreed to make me responsible for something I knew nothing about.””
“I didn't think it would become a real debt. I thought it was just paperwork.””
My father covered his face.
Felicity reached for my hand.
“Jenna, please. I know I hurt you. But if you tell them I knowingly signed those documents, they'll destroy me.””
I pulled my hand away.
“You just admitted it yourself.””
“I was trying to protect myself!””
“And you used me to do it.””
She looked at me with desperate eyes.
“If I lose everything, Dad loses the house. You can't let that happen.””
I thought of Amara, who had asked why people laughed at us.
I thought of Olivia, whose career had nearly been destroyed because she refused to approve questionable records.
And I thought of my father, who had mistaken rescuing Felicity for loving her.
“I won't lie,” I said.
“But I won't lie about you, either. I'll tell them exactly what you told me and let them decide what it means.””
Felicity began shaking her head.
“No. No, Jenna, you don't understand.””
She grabbed her handbag and pulled out her phone.
“Graham said he had insurance. He said if anything went wrong, the person who arranged the documents would take responsibility.””
“Then you should tell the investigators who arranged them.””
She looked at me, her eyes wide with fear.
“Because Graham isn't just an outside consultant.””
I waited.
May you like
Felicity swallowed.
“He's Silas Montgomery's cousin. And he told me he has enough information to bring Silas down with him.””
