Chapter 4 - The Signature He Stole
I stepped away from Luca.
“Which accounts?”
Daniel Price lowered his voice as though he knew the answer would hurt.
“I'd rather verify a few additional details before discussing everything by phone.”
“I'm standing with my husband right now.”
Luca's face changed.
Daniel paused.
“Then I strongly recommend that you continue this conversation privately.”
That told me enough.
I ended the call.
Luca immediately said, “Anna, let me explain.”
I looked at the man I had slept beside for eleven years.
The man who knew how I took my coffee.
The man who held my father's hand in hospice.
The man who cried when Leo was born.
And suddenly I wondered how many versions of him existed.
“You forged my signature.”
His eyes flicked toward Sabrina.
“That is not what happened.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
“Not here.”
“Why? Worried the passengers might discover the romantic captain is also a thief?”
“Anna.”
“No. You wanted an audience thirty minutes ago.”
His jaw clenched.
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting our anniversary.”
Sabrina folded her arms.
“You told me she signed.”
Luca turned on her.
“Stay out of this.”
She actually laughed.
“You made me part of this.”
The airline operations manager returned.
“Captain Marino, now.”
Luca rubbed both hands over his face.
“Anna, give me twenty minutes.”
“I've given you eleven years.”
Then I walked away.
Marissa helped me find a quiet seating area near an airline lounge while Leo ate half a granola bar and stared at the floor.
Sabrina remained nearby but gave us space.
Eventually, Leo asked the question I had been dreading.
“Are you and Dad getting divorced?”
I sat beside him.
“I don't know yet.”
“Because of Sabrina?”
“Because Dad lied.”
“Did he lie to me?”
I hesitated.
“Not about loving you.”
“How do you know?”
There are moments when being a parent means answering questions while your own heart is bleeding.
I pulled Leo against me.
“Because I have seen your father love you every day of your life.”
“Then why did he take my money?”
I closed my eyes.
“That is something he has to explain.”
Twenty-five minutes later, Luca appeared.
His flight bag was gone.
So was his captain's hat.
“What happened?” I asked.
“They removed me from the return flight.”
Sabrina stared at him.
“Because of the announcement?”
“Because a passenger complained, and operations wants a statement.”
“Good,” I said.
His eyes flashed.
“Don't do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act like destroying my career is going to fix this.”
I stood.
“You did this before I ever boarded the plane.”
His anger disappeared.
For one second he looked exhausted.
“Can we please talk somewhere private?”
We found an unused conference room near the airline offices.
I insisted Sabrina come.
Luca hated that.
I didn't care.
Leo sat outside with Marissa, coloring on pages she had found in a children's travel kit.
Inside, I placed my phone on the table.
“Start with the money.”
Luca exhaled.
“The charter company was an opportunity.”
“You stole ninety-six thousand dollars against our house.”
“I borrowed it.”
“Using my forged signature.”
“You electronically signed the packet.”
“You told me it was tax paperwork.”
His silence was the answer.
Sabrina stared at him.
“Oh my God.”
Luca looked at me.
“I was going to replace the money before you ever noticed.”
“From what?”
“Investor funding.”
“And Leo's account?”
His shoulders lowered.
“That was temporary too.”
I actually slapped the table.
“You liquidated our child's inheritance.”
“It was earning almost nothing.”
“It wasn't yours!”
“I am his father.”
“You are his custodian. That doesn't make his money your casino chips.”
Luca winced.
“I wasn't gambling.”
“You were gambling with everything.”
Sabrina stood near the wall, crying quietly.
Then she said, “Did you use my name on anything?”
Luca didn't answer immediately.
Her face went white.
“Luca.”
“Some company documents.”
“What documents?”
“You were going to be involved eventually.”
“I never agreed to invest.”
“You didn't invest.”
“Then why is my name involved?”
He looked cornered.
And I realized something.
Luca wasn't a criminal mastermind.
He was worse in a more ordinary way.
He had convinced himself that every lie was temporary.
That every stolen dollar would be replaced.
That every betrayed person would eventually understand.
He believed his intentions mattered more than our consent.
I leaned forward.
“Why, Luca?”
He stared at the table.
“Because I hated my life.”
I felt the words physically.
His eyes immediately lifted.
“Not Leo.”
“Don't.”
“Anna, not you exactly—”
“Don't fix it.”
He swallowed.
“I was turning forty. Every flight felt the same. Every month felt the same. Mortgage. School pickups. Grocery lists. Scheduling everything around everyone else.”
“And Sabrina made you feel young.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Sabrina looked disgusted.
“Don't put that on me.”
“I didn't.”
“You told me you were divorced.”
“I said separated.”
“You said legally separated.”
Luca had no answer.
I asked, “Were you leaving us?”
He looked toward the glass door where Leo was visible outside.
“I was going to leave the marriage.”
My throat tightened.
“When?”
“Monday.”
Sabrina whispered, “After Chicago.”
He nodded.
I forced myself to keep breathing.
“You were going to come home Sunday night, sleep in our bed, then leave me Monday?”
“I had planned to tell you before then.”
“When? Between breakfast and school drop-off?”
“Anna—”
“Were you going to take the house?”
“No.”
“Sabrina said you told her the house was part of your financial plan.”
“I was going to propose selling it.”
“After taking ninety-six thousand dollars out of its equity without permission.”
He had nothing.
That was when my phone rang again.
Daniel from the bank.
I stepped into the hallway.
This time I listened to everything.
The HELOC authorization had multiple inconsistencies.
The bank was freezing further access while it investigated.
But there was more.
Another account connected to my Social Security number had been opened four months earlier.
A personal line of credit.
$35,000.
Balance: $31,800.
I had never opened it.
My knees weakened.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“And you think my husband opened it?”
“I can't make that determination.”
But we both knew.
I returned to the room.
Luca saw my face.
“What?”
“Thirty-five thousand.”
He looked away.
Sabrina whispered, “Jesus.”
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because I had reached a point beyond normal shock.
“Ninety-six thousand against the house. More than forty thousand from Leo. Thirty-one thousand in debt under my name.”
“I can repay it.”
“With what?”
“The company hasn't spent everything.”
I stared at him.
“How much is left?”
“I'm not sure.”
My stomach turned.
“You don't know?”
“Some funds are in escrow.”
“Some?”
He stood.
“Anna, I will fix it.”
“No.”
That was the first moment I truly understood my decision.
Maybe not about divorce.
Not yet.
But about something even more immediate.
“You are done fixing things behind my back.”
I opened the door.
Leo looked up.
“Are we going home?”
“Yes.”
Luca stepped after me.
“Anna.”
I turned.
“You are not coming with us.”
His face collapsed.
“Please.”
“No.”
Leo looked between us.
Luca crouched.
“Buddy, can I hug you?”
Leo didn't move.
Then slowly, painfully, he shook his head.
Luca's eyes filled.
I took Leo's hand.
We left him there.
Sabrina stayed behind for less than a minute before catching up with us.
At the terminal entrance, she said, “I'm done too.”
I didn't respond.
“I know you don't owe me anything.”
“You're right.”
“But I'll send you every message. Every file. Anything you need.”
I looked at her for a long moment.
“Why?”
“Because he lied to both of us.”
“He didn't make you break my marriage.”
Her eyes dropped.
“No.”
“But he made sure you didn't know what marriage you were entering.”
She nodded.
That was all I could give her.
That evening, Leo and I returned home on another flight.
A different captain.
A different voice on the speakers.
Leo wore his headphones during the entire announcement.
My sister Rachel met us outside baggage claim.
The second she saw my face, she stopped asking questions.
She simply hugged me.
Then Leo.
Then me again.
We spent the night at her house.
At 6:47 the following morning, my phone rang.
This time it wasn't the bank.
It was the investment company that had held Leo's inheritance.
The representative sounded uncomfortable.
“Mrs. Marino, our legal department asked me to contact you regarding the custodial account.”
“Yes.”
“We located the authorization used to liquidate it.”
I sat up in Rachel's guest bed.
“And?”
“It includes a notarized consent form bearing your signature.”
“I never signed one.”
“I understand.”
“Who notarized it?”
There was a pause.
Then she gave me the name.
I knew it immediately.
Carla Marino.
Luca's mother.
May you like
My mother-in-law.
And suddenly I understood that my husband might not have been lying alone.
