Chapter 2 - MY HUSBAND’S HOME
Paramedics treated the cut near my temple before transporting me.
The hospital physician diagnosed a mild concussion, bruising across my shoulder and hip, and abrasions from the pottery. My cheek remained red beneath the fluorescent lights.
Officer Lena Ortiz interviewed me after the doctor cleared the room.
“Did Eleanor Bennett strike you intentionally?”
“Yes.”
“Did Audrey Collins strike Mrs. Bennett?”
“She pulled Eleanor off me. Eleanor swung toward her. Audrey struck her once.”
The distinction mattered.
Audrey gave her own statement without minimizing the blow. She said she acted to defend me and accepted that investigators would review whether her force was proportionate.
Diane’s phone should have answered everything.
She claimed the recording had stopped before the violence because her storage was full.
Officer Ortiz asked to examine the device.
Diane refused until police obtained a warrant.
Eleanor went to another hospital, where she complained of chest pain and facial tenderness. Tests showed no cardiac event.
Julian told officers the apartment belonged to him and that I had invited Audrey inside to threaten his mother over “a private marital business disagreement.”
The deed contradicted him.
According to the city property database, the four-bedroom apartment was owned by CB Residential Fourteen LLC.
I was listed as the sole managing member.
I had never heard of the company.
Audrey waited outside my hospital room until I asked her in.
She was a corporate and real-estate attorney. I had hired her six days earlier after receiving a tax notice concerning a building I did not recognize.
“What did Julian mean?” I asked. “Why did he say those buildings belong to me?”
Audrey placed the damaged folder on the table.
“I don’t know whether they legally belong to you, Clara. I know your name appears across them.”
“How many?”
“Enough that we need independent verification before I answer.”
“Tell me what you brought to the apartment.”
“County deeds, company registrations, financing statements, and an emergency ownership map prepared by a title investigator.”
“Why was Eleanor there?”
“She told the concierge she was helping Julian collect personal property.”
“Julian said it was his home.”
Audrey looked at my wedding ring.
“That may be what he told you. On paper, he has never owned it.”
A nurse interrupted to change my dressing.
When we were alone again, Audrey opened only the first page.
It showed CB Residential Fourteen LLC as owner.
My signature appeared beneath the company formation date.
The date was seven years earlier.
Three months before I met Julian.
My signature looked genuine.
May you like
The company had existed before my marriage.
And someone had been using my name before my husband supposedly knew me.
