Chapter 6 - The Last Lie
The signature looked real.
That was the problem.
Aurora had spent hours staring at it.
Daniel Bennett.
The same sweeping D.
The same slightly crooked final T.
Regina's attorney claimed the document had been discovered in an old safe-deposit box.
According to the supposed will, Daniel had transferred full ownership of the Red Hook warehouse to Regina.
Aurora wanted to tear it in half.
Michael stopped her.
“That would be emotionally satisfying and legally stupid.”
“I hate when you're reasonable.”
“I've noticed.”
The forensic examination took eleven days.
They were the longest eleven days Aurora could remember.
On the twelfth morning, Michael entered the kitchen holding his phone.
Aurora knew immediately.
“What?”
“The signature is genuine.”
Her coffee cup stopped halfway to her mouth.
“No.”
“The ink and paper are consistent with the period.”
Aurora sat down.
“So she wins?”
“I didn't say that.”
Michael placed another document before her.
“The signature is genuine. The will isn't.”
Aurora looked up.
Michael explained.
Daniel had signed several blank authorization forms for Bennett Freight.
One had apparently been transformed into the supposed will after his death.
The paper was authentic.
The signature was authentic.
The text printed above it wasn't.
“How can they prove that?”
“Printer analysis.”
Aurora blinked.
“The typeface was produced by a commercial printer model released two years after your father died.”
For several seconds Aurora simply stared.
Then she laughed.
She couldn't stop.
Michael looked concerned.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
She laughed harder.
“Regina tried to forge a dead man's will and got caught because she used the wrong printer.”
Michael's mouth twitched.
“That is essentially what happened.”
Aurora laughed until she cried.
Then the tears changed.
Michael sat beside her.
She leaned against him.
“I'm tired.”
“I know.”
“I don't want to fight anymore.”
“Then don't.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“Let the attorneys fight.”
He brushed a tear from her cheek.
“You've spent your whole life surviving other people's choices. You're allowed to start making your own.”
The words stayed with her.
Weeks later, Regina requested to see her.
Aurora almost refused.
Then she changed her mind.
Michael drove her to the detention center.
“You don't have to go inside.”
“I know.”
“I can wait here.”
Aurora smiled faintly.
“I know.”
Regina looked older behind the glass.
Not dramatically.
Just diminished.
For years Aurora had seen her as enormous.
Powerful.
A monster who could appear anywhere.
Now she looked like an ordinary frightened woman.
Aurora picked up the phone.
Regina did the same.
“You came.”
Aurora said nothing.
Regina swallowed.
“I wanted to explain.”
“You've been explaining for years.”
“I loved your father.”
“You betrayed him.”
Regina looked down.
“Yes.”
The admission surprised Aurora.
“I was jealous of you.”
Aurora frowned.
“Of me?”
“He loved you in a way I knew he'd never love me.”
“You were jealous of a child?”
Regina's eyes filled.
“I was sick with resentment.”
Aurora remained silent.
“When he discovered what Anthony Moretti was doing, Daniel wanted to go to the authorities. I begged him not to. I was afraid we'd lose everything.”
“So you told Hale.”
“Yes.”
“And they killed him.”
Regina started crying.
“I didn't know.”
“But afterward you took their money.”
Regina closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Aurora waited for anger.
It came.
But beneath it was something unexpected.
Freedom.
Regina could no longer rewrite reality.
She had finally admitted it.
“You spent years making me pay for what you did.”
Regina whispered, “I know.”
“You sold me to Tony.”
“I was desperate.”
“No.”
Aurora's voice remained calm.
“You made a choice.”
Regina looked at her.
Aurora continued.
“That's what I've learned. Fear doesn't erase choices. Desperation doesn't erase choices. Love doesn't erase choices.”
She stood.
“Aurora, please.”
Aurora paused.
“I hope someday you become someone who understands what you did.”
“Can you forgive me?”
Aurora looked at her for a long moment.
“Maybe someday.”
Regina's face crumpled.
“But forgiveness doesn't mean you get me back.”
Aurora hung up the phone.
She walked outside.
Michael was waiting beside the car.
He didn't ask what happened.
He simply opened his arms.
Aurora stepped into them.
Months passed.
The warehouse legally became hers.
Aurora refused Michael's suggestion to sell it.
Instead she renovated it.
Not into apartments.
Not into luxury offices.
Into a community center.
A section provided temporary housing and legal support for women escaping coercive relationships.
Another offered childcare.
The largest room became a job-training center.
Above the entrance Aurora installed a simple plaque.
THE DANIEL BENNETT CENTER
Michael stood beside her during the opening.
“Your father would be proud.”
Aurora looked at him.
“I think so.”
Zach tugged her dress.
“Come see!”
He dragged her inside.
On the wall was his drawing.
The same three stick figures.
Michael.
Aurora.
Zach.
Except now Teddy had been added.
Aurora laughed.
“You remembered him.”
“He complained.”
“I imagine.”
Zach became serious.
“Are you staying forever?”
Aurora crouched.
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes.”
“Then I'll try.”
“Promise?”
He held out his pinky.
Aurora's eyes filled.
She hooked hers around it.
“Promise.”
That evening Michael drove her back to the mansion.
But instead of entering the house, he led her toward the garden.
Lights glowed between the trees.
Aurora stopped.
“Michael?”
He turned toward her.
For once, Michael Moretti looked nervous.
Actually nervous.
Aurora smiled.
“What are you doing?”
Before he could answer, Zach ran from behind a hedge.
“WAIT!”
Michael closed his eyes.
Zach hurried toward them carrying Teddy.
“You forgot me.”
“I was hoping you were asleep.”
“This is important.”
Aurora looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Zach grinned.
Michael reached into his pocket.
Aurora's heart stopped.
“No.”
Michael lowered himself onto one knee.
Zach immediately copied him.
So did Teddy, with assistance.
Aurora covered her mouth.
Michael looked up.
“The first Moretti proposal you received was admittedly difficult to compete with.”
Aurora laughed through tears.
“But I'd like the opportunity.”
He opened a small velvet box.
Inside was a simple, elegant ring.
“Aurora Bennett, I can't promise you a life without fear.”
Her smile faded into something deeper.
“I can't promise nothing bad will happen. And I won't promise to save you, because I've learned you don't need saving.”
Aurora's tears spilled.
“But I can promise you'll never have to face anything alone.”
He took a breath.
“I love you.”
Zach whispered loudly, “Now ask her.”
Michael shot him a look.
“I'm getting there.”
“You're taking forever.”
Aurora laughed.
Michael returned his attention to her.
“Will you marry me?”
Aurora looked at Zach.
He nodded enthusiastically.
“Say yes.”
She looked back at Michael.
“Yes.”
Zach jumped.
“Yes!”
Michael slipped the ring onto her finger.
Then he stood and kissed her.
Zach immediately covered Teddy's eyes.
“Gross.”
Aurora laughed against Michael's lips.
For once, there was no danger waiting outside the gate.
No Regina.
No Tony.
No hidden ledger.
No footsteps behind her.
Only the man she loved.
The little boy who had found her when she believed nobody would.
And a ridiculous pinky promise that had somehow become the first brick in the home she'd spent her entire life searching for.
But there was still one promise left to keep.
Because Zach had negotiated one very important condition months earlier.
May you like
And Michael Moretti was about to discover that his six-year-old son took the title of “best man” extremely seriously.
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