“Tonight,” I said into the microphone, my gaze sweeping over the crowd of bankers and investors, “I learned that my signature was fraudulently placed on bank annexes without my knowledge or consent. Documents that would have transferred operational control of the project to Alexander, while secretly leaving me personally liable for thirty million dollars in debt if the project failed.”
The room erupted into shocked whispers. A senior loan officer from Chase Bank near the bar suddenly looked as though he might vomit.
“That is a lie!” Alexander shouted, his voice cracking with desperation. He pointed at me. “She’s having a mental breakdown! Security, remove her!”
I turned to David and nodded.
David tapped his tablet. The massive projector screen behind the stage, which had been displaying the Sedona Pines logo, suddenly flashed to a new image.
It was the bank guarantee document. Enormous, undeniably clear.
David stepped up to a secondary microphone. “What you are looking at is forensic evidence of digital forgery,” David announced, his voice clinical and detached. “The signature on this annex was digitally lifted from an unrelated environmental form and pasted here. The metadata proves the document was illegally altered by Alexander Sterling’s private IP address.”
The word forgery hung in the air like a guillotine.
Alexander was sweating profusely now. “You can’t show private financial documents! This is illegal!”
Valerie, my lawyer, stepped out of the shadows. “We can and will display evidence of attempted felony fraud when it directly involves multiple investors present in this room.”
Eleanor Sterling rushed forward, grabbing her son’s arm. “Ethan,” she pleaded, looking at the Canadian investor. “Ethan, please. This is a bitter, jealous woman trying to ruin a business deal over a marital dispute. Don’t let her manipulate you.”
Ethan Caldwell adjusted his suit jacket. He walked forward, his presence commanding absolute silence. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.
