Chapter 4 - THE RELEASE
The parental release form had my signature.
That was the problem.
At first glance, it looked real.
GODRIC ASHER.
My name.
My handwriting.
Date:
Thirteen months earlier.
I stared.
“I didn’t sign this.”
Naomi did not immediately agree.
“Do you recognize the signature?”
“Yes.”
“Could you have signed something without remembering?”
I wanted to say no.
Then I remembered how many documents I signed.
Business.
School.
Travel.
Insurance.
Household.
I hated the possibility.
The original digital document came from an e-sign platform.
Audit log:
Opened from my home IP address.
Signed from an iPad registered to me.
Authentication via email code sent to my account.
That looked terrible.
“Could Meliora access your email?”
“Yes.”
“Your iPad?”
“Yes.”
“Password?”
“She knew it.”
Naomi exhaled.
“Then we need forensic review.”
No instant forgery claim.
The title:
FAMILY MEDIA AND IMAGE CONSENT.
Broad.
Authorized recording of Kerensa for:
Family lifestyle documentation.
Promotional partnerships.
Commercial media.
Social platforms.
Advertising.
It also appointed Meliora as:
Production representative.
Not legal guardian.
Important.
Did the form alone authorize child labor?
Maybe not.
State law required additional permits for some paid entertainment work involving minors.
Had those been obtained?
Unknown.
Then I noticed something.
The first page looked familiar.
A year earlier, Meliora asked me to sign a release for a local charity holiday video.
Kerensa and other children decorated cookies.
I signed something.
Could this be it?
The e-sign audit showed the document opened once.
But page history suggested the final PDF contained six pages.
The version I vaguely remembered was one.
Naomi requested e-sign platform preservation.
We did not accuse anyone yet.
Then Tessa sent old emails voluntarily.
MELIORA:
Godric hates admin. Just route all production paperwork through me.
TESSA:
Need direct parent confirmation for Briar.
MELIORA:
Already covered under standing release.
TESSA:
Brand may require campaign-specific release.
MELIORA:
I’ll handle.
That pattern mattered.
Then school.
Kerensa’s preschool director called.
“We need to speak.”
Meliora had picked Kerensa up early eleven times in four months for:
Family appointments.
Medical appointments.
Private tutoring.
Were those shoots?
Some dates matched production invoices.
My stomach turned.
“Why wasn’t I notified?”
“You were copied.”
“Where?”
An email address.
Not mine.
godric.asher.family@...
I had never seen it.
Who created it?
Unknown.
The school believed it belonged to me because Meliora listed it on updated contact forms.
She signed as:
Authorized caregiver.
That part was true.
I had formally authorized her for pickup.
Not for changing my email.
Again:
Access stretched beyond what I intended.
Did she forge my signature on school forms?
Some forms used her own name.
No.
She did not need to forge everything when systems already trusted caregivers.
That was an important lesson.
Then the financial records.
Juniper House had gross receipts of roughly $312,000 in its first year.
Not all Kerensa.
Meliora’s own brand deals.
Design consulting.
Affiliate revenue.
Production work.
How much tied directly to Kerensa?
Auditors had not separated it.
Yet.
The amount was significant but not a secret fortune.
Naomi said:
“Do not start telling yourself she made three hundred thousand from your daughter.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
She knew me.
That evening Meliora’s attorney sent a letter.
Position:
Godric knew about Juniper House.
Godric consented to family content.
Godric benefited from household expenses paid by Juniper House.
Godric is now fabricating ignorance to improve his position after committing violence.
That was her counterattack.
And parts of it might be true.
I knew Meliora posted.
I signed at least one release.
She bought groceries.
Paid a decorator.
Covered a vacation upgrade.
Maybe with company money.
I had benefited indirectly.
The fight was no longer:
Did I know anything?
It was:
May you like
What exactly did I authorize?
And what happened after Meliora stopped asking?
