Chapter 3: The $25,000 Question
I drove home earlier than usual.
The November sky had turned gray, and the bare branches along the road moved in the wind.
I kept thinking about the transfer request.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Not fifty.
Not five.
Twenty-five thousand.
It was too specific to be a mistake.
When I arrived, Eleanor was in the dining room sorting wedding invitations.
She looked up immediately.
"You're home early.""
I placed my briefcase on the chair.
"Did Madison come by?""
"Not yet.""
I pulled out my phone and showed her the notification.
Her face changed.
"What's that?""
"A transfer request.""
She read the screen.
"To Marcus?""
"Yes.""
"Did you send it?""
"No.""
Eleanor slowly put down the envelope in her hand.
"David, Madison had access to the wedding account.""
I nodded.
"I know.""
She covered her mouth.
"Do you think she—"
"I don't know what I think.""
The front door opened.
Madison walked in carrying a designer handbag and a garment bag.
She wore a cream sweater, black trousers, and gold earrings. Her hair was pulled into a low bun.
"Hey, Mom.""
Then she saw me.
Her expression tightened.
"Dad.""
I gestured toward the dining table.
"Come sit down.""
She glanced at Eleanor.
"What's wrong?""
I placed my phone on the table.
"Do you recognize this?""
Madison leaned forward.
Her eyes moved across the screen.
For a second, she said nothing.
Then she straightened.
"Oh.""
I waited.
She set her handbag down.
"Marcus asked me to help him with something.""
I felt a cold sensation settle in my stomach.
"What did he ask you to do?""
"He needed a transfer.""
"From my account?""
"From the wedding account.""
"Which I funded.""
She folded her arms.
"He's trying to start a business.""
I looked at Eleanor.
She had gone completely still.
I turned back to Madison.
"Did you submit this request?""
Madison looked away.
"Yes.""
The answer came so casually that I almost didn't understand it.
"You transferred twenty-five thousand dollars to a man you've known for three months?""
"He didn't receive it yet.""
"That's not the question.""
She sighed.
"Marcus said he needed a deposit for a property. He promised he'd pay it back.""
I stared at her.
"Did you ask me?""
"I knew you'd say no.""
"That should have told you something.""
Her cheeks flushed.
"You're acting like I stole from you.""
"Did you have permission to transfer that money?""
She didn't answer.
I leaned forward.
"Madison.""
She finally looked at me.
"No.""
The room went silent.
Eleanor sat down slowly.
"Madison, why would you do that?""
"Because he's my father!""
The words exploded through the dining room.
Madison's eyes were bright now.
"He's trying to build something. He's trying to become part of my life. I thought you could at least help him.""
I looked at her.
"Help him?""
"Yes.""
"After he abandoned you?""
"He made mistakes!""
"And I spent twenty years paying for them.""
She flinched.
I regretted the words almost immediately, but I didn't take them back.
Madison picked up her handbag.
"Forget it. I shouldn't have come.""
"Sit down.""
"No.""
"Madison, we aren't finished.""
She stopped near the doorway.
I took a breath.
"Did Marcus tell you what the money was actually for?""
"He explained everything.""
"What property?""
"A venue outside Columbus.""
"What's the address?""
She hesitated.
"I don't remember.""
"What company?""
"He hasn't registered it yet.""
"What documents did he give you?""
She stared at me.
Then her expression changed.
"Why are you interrogating me?""
"Because you tried to send twenty-five thousand dollars to a man who doesn't have a registered company, a property address, or a written agreement.""
"He said he would handle the paperwork!""
I slowly shook my head.
"Madison, listen to yourself.""
She turned toward her mother.
"Mom, please tell him he's being unreasonable.""
Eleanor stood.
"Sweetheart, your father isn't being unreasonable. You used an account without permission.""
Madison looked betrayed.
"You're taking his side?""
"I'm asking you to understand what you've done.""
Madison shook her head.
Then she said something that made me realize just how deeply Marcus had influenced her.
"He told me you would do this.""
I stared at her.
"What?""
"He said you'd try to control everything. He said you would use the money to make me feel like I owed you something.""
I laughed once, quietly.
"That's interesting.""
"What's interesting?""
"That a man who has never paid for your schoolbooks is suddenly an expert on how I use money.""
Her eyes filled.
"You're impossible.""
She grabbed her bag and walked out.
The front door slammed.
Eleanor sat down heavily.
I remained standing.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then Eleanor reached for my hand.
"David, I think Marcus is manipulating her.""
I looked at the empty doorway.
"I think we need to find out exactly what he's doing.""
That evening, I called my attorney, Robert Hayes.
Robert had handled my company's contracts for fifteen years. He was a careful man who believed in reading every page before signing anything.
I explained the situation.
He listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he asked one question.
"Did you authorize Madison to withdraw money from the wedding account?""
"No.""
"Then contact the bank and suspend the pending transfer. Preserve the account records. Don't confront Marcus with any accusations until we know what happened.""
I followed his advice.
The transfer was stopped.
Then Robert asked me to forward the message Marcus had sent.
I did.
A few minutes later, Robert called back.
"David, there's something I want you to check.""
"What?""
"Have you ever heard of Reed Family Events LLC?""
"No.""
"Search your emails.""
I opened my laptop.
The name appeared in an old email from two weeks earlier.
The subject line read:
*Wedding Partnership Proposal — Madison and Marcus.*
I opened it.
There was a short presentation attached.
Marcus was proposing to create an event venue business. The proposal described a property, projected revenue, renovation expenses, and a partnership structure.
At the bottom was a section titled:
*Initial Capital Contribution.*
My name appeared beside the amount.
$25,000.
I stared at the screen.
Then I noticed something else.
The proposal listed Madison as a co-owner.
Not a future employee.
Not a family representative.
A co-owner.
I called Robert again.
"Why is my name on this?""
He asked me to forward the file.
I did.
After a few minutes, he said, "David, this document is strange.""
"How?""
"Your signature appears on the last page.""
My stomach tightened.
"What?""
"Someone has inserted a signature that looks like yours.""
I opened the document again.
There it was.
My name.
My signature.
A signature I had not written.
Beneath it was a paragraph stating that I had agreed to provide $25,000 in startup funding and serve as a financial guarantor for the business.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"Robert, I never signed this.""
"I believe you.""
"Can you verify it?""
"Send me the original file and the email headers. Don't edit anything.""
I forwarded everything.
Then I sat back in my chair.
Marcus wasn't merely asking me for help.
He had prepared paperwork suggesting I had already agreed.
And Madison had been listed as a business partner.
My phone rang.
It was Eleanor.
"David, you need to come upstairs.""
"What's wrong?""
"I found something in Madison's old laptop.""
I closed my eyes.
"What?""
"A conversation between her and Marcus.""
"About the money?""
"Yes. But there's something else.""
Her voice cracked.
"David, he told her something about you.""
I stood.
"What did he tell her?""
Eleanor was quiet for a moment.
Then she read the message aloud.
"Marcus wrote, 'Your father will never let me have a place in your life unless he thinks he can control me. Once the wedding is over, we'll make sure he understands that you're old enough to choose who deserves to be in your family.''"
I gripped the edge of my desk.
"There's more," Eleanor whispered.
She continued reading.
"'And Madison, don't worry about the money. Your father has more than enough. Twenty-five thousand is nothing compared with what he owes you for keeping your real father away.''"
I couldn't speak.
Then Eleanor read the final message.
It had been sent the night before Madison confronted me.
*"Once he signs the guarantee, we'll have everything in place. After the wedding, I'll tell you the truth about why I left.""*
I stared at the wall.
The truth about why he left.
For twenty years, I had believed Marcus abandoned Eleanor because he was young and irresponsible.
Madison had believed that too.
But if he had been promising to explain his disappearance only after I signed a financial guarantee, then something was very wrong.
"David?"" Eleanor whispered.
"I'm here.""
"What are we going to do?""
I looked at the wedding invitation sitting beside my laptop.
Saturday.
Two days away.
I thought about the little girl who used to wait by the garage door when I came home from work.
The teenager who called me from college because she couldn't stop crying.
The young woman who had hugged me after getting her first job and said she wanted to make me proud.
I still loved that girl.
I still loved the woman she had become.
But someone was using the space between her longing for a biological father and her gratitude toward the man who raised her.
And I wasn't going to let that happen without finding out why.
"Call Robert," I told Eleanor.
"Tell him we need to investigate Marcus's company and that document.""
"Should we tell Madison?""
"Not yet.""
I ended the call and opened the wedding proposal one more time.
The signature at the bottom looked convincing.
Almost perfect.
But there was one detail Marcus had overlooked.
The signature contained a middle initial I had stopped using professionally fifteen years ago.
Only someone who had access to an old document could have copied it.
I searched my computer for the original file.
And when I found the document Marcus had copied, I discovered something even more disturbing.
It wasn't a business contract.
It was an old legal agreement from the year I adopted Madison.
And attached to it was a second document bearing Marcus Reed's name.
A document I had never seen before.
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At the top, in bold letters, were the words:
*VOLUNTARY TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS.*
