📋 PART 4
Hunter’s smile slowly faded as he noticed how pale I looked. “Jilly? You’re shaking. What’s going on?”
I opened my mouth but no words came out. The photo in my pocket felt like it weighed a ton. Across the table, Walter was already on the phone barking orders at the bank, while Rosa’s son kept glancing at the door like he expected someone to burst in any second.
Before I could decide what to say, the front doorbell rang loudly. Everyone froze.
Walter motioned for the butler. A minute later, a tall man in an expensive suit walked in carrying a thick folder. He didn’t smile.
“Mr. Walter, Mr. Hunter… I’m sorry to come unannounced. I’m Mr. Lang from the family law firm. We received an emergency filing at 6 AM this morning.”
He placed the folder on the table and opened it. The first page was a court document.
Brenda had filed for an emergency conservatorship over Hunter — claiming he was “mentally unstable and being manipulated by his wife Jillian, who has a history of fraud.” Attached were screenshots of messages, bank records, and worst of all… a video clip timestamped from last month.
The thumbnail showed me and a man I barely remembered from a charity gala — we were laughing closely, his hand on my waist. The caption Brenda wrote: “See? She was never faithful.”
Hunter’s face went white. He slowly turned to me, eyes full of confusion and hurt.
“Is this real?” His voice was barely above a whisper.
I felt tears burning. “It’s not what it looks like. I can explain everything… but not here.”
Rosa stepped forward, her voice calm but urgent. “Mrs. Jillian, my son found something else this morning when he was checking the old office. Brenda wasn’t working alone. There’s a second set of documents… and your name is on them too. Not as victim. As co-signer.”
Her son pulled out his tablet and showed a scanned signature that looked exactly like mine — but I had never seen that paper before.
My stomach dropped. Someone had forged my signature perfectly.
Walter slammed his hand on the table. “Enough games! We’re calling the police right now. This has gone too far.”
Just then my phone started ringing on the table. Unknown number again. The screen flashed a single line preview of the message:
“Answer me in the next 30 seconds or the full 8-minute video of you and Celine’s husband goes public. Choose wisely, daughter-in-law.”
Hunter saw the notification. His hand reached for my phone.
I snatched it first, heart hammering so hard I could hear it in my ears.
The entire room was staring at me now — Hunter, Walter, Rosa, her son — waiting for answers I wasn’t ready to give.
Outside the window, I caught a glimpse of a black car pulling up slowly. The driver wore sunglasses even though it was cloudy.
Brenda wasn’t gone.
May you like
She was just getting started.
To be continued...
