Chapter 3 - The Wife Before Me
Her name was Rebecca Hale.
Mariana read it three times.
The document wasn’t a marriage certificate. It appeared to be a draft settlement agreement, unsigned and incomplete.
But it referenced a marriage.
Daniel Rivas and Rebecca Hale.
Mariana photographed every page.
Then she heard a car door outside.
Daniel.
She shoved the documents back into the folder, but she didn’t return it to the box.
She put the entire folder inside her bag.
The front door opened.
“Mariana?”
She froze.
Footsteps crossed the foyer.
“Mariana!”
She walked from the office.
Daniel saw the bag.
Then the open closet.
His face changed.
“What did you take?”
“Nothing that belongs to you.”
He moved toward her.
Mariana raised her phone.
“I’m recording.”
Daniel stopped.
Smart.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he smiled.
“You think you found something.”
“I know I did.”
“You have no idea what you’re looking at.”
“Rebecca Hale.”
The smile disappeared.
That was enough.
Mariana walked past him.
He didn’t touch her.
But as she reached the door, he said, “You should be careful contacting people you don’t understand.”
She turned.
“Was she your wife?”
Silence.
“Daniel?”
“She’s irrelevant.”
“Was she your wife?”
His eyes hardened.
“Get out.”
Mariana did.
But Rebecca was no longer irrelevant.
She was the first person Mariana called after meeting attorney Claire Bennett that afternoon.
Claire specialized in property and financial fraud.
After reviewing copies of the documents, she removed her glasses.
“Do not confront your husband again.”
“I already did.”
“Then don’t do it again.”
“Can we prove the signature was forged?”
“We can investigate it.”
“What about the bank?”
“Potentially recoverable, depending on where the money went and whether we can establish fraud.”
“And my house?”
Claire tapped the deed.
“If you never signed this, Daniel may have a much larger problem than divorce.”
Mariana swallowed.
“What about Rebecca?”
Claire looked at the old settlement.
“We find her.”
They did.
Rebecca Hale lived less than ninety miles away.
When Mariana called, the woman remained silent for so long that Mariana thought the call had disconnected.
Then Rebecca asked one question.
“Is Teresa still involved?”
Mariana’s skin prickled.
“Yes.”
Rebecca exhaled.
“I wondered when this would happen again.”
Again.
They met the next day at a diner halfway between their towns.
Rebecca was forty-one, with short auburn hair and a quiet manner.
She didn’t seem surprised to see Mariana.
She seemed sad.
“Daniel married me when I was twenty-four,” Rebecca said.
“What happened?”
“His mother happened.”
Mariana almost smiled despite herself.
Rebecca didn’t.
“At first Teresa adored me. Then Daniel started controlling accounts. Passwords changed. Documents appeared. He told people I was unstable.”
Mariana felt cold.
“The same thing.”
“Probably.”
“Did he steal from you?”
Rebecca looked out the window.
“More than money.”
She opened a folder.
Inside were old police reports, bank statements and handwriting comparisons.
Mariana stared.
“You kept everything?”
“I learned too late.”
Rebecca pushed a document toward her.
“I filed a fraud complaint.”
“What happened?”
“I withdrew it.”
“Why?”
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“Because Teresa threatened my younger brother with a lawsuit that would have destroyed his business. Daniel promised to return some of the money if I disappeared.”
“Did he?”
“Half.”
“And your divorce?”
Rebecca nodded.
“It was finalized eventually. That settlement you found was an early draft.”
Relief and disappointment arrived together.
Daniel had not secretly committed bigamy.
But the truth was hardly better.
He had done this before.
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Mariana, listen carefully. Daniel doesn’t explode when he’s losing.”
“What does he do?”
“He becomes nicer.”
Mariana frowned.
“Why?”
“Because that means he’s buying time.”
Mariana’s phone buzzed.
Daniel.
A message.
Can we talk? I think this has gone too far.
Rebecca saw Mariana’s expression.
“What?”
Mariana showed her.
Rebecca went pale.
“There.”
“What?”
“That’s what I mean.”
A second message arrived.
I want to fix this. Come home tonight. Just us.
Rebecca shook her head.
“Don’t.”
Mariana didn’t.
Instead, Claire arranged for documents to be preserved, account activity reviewed, and handwriting experts consulted.
The preliminary comparison arrived four days later.
The examiner couldn’t make a final determination from copies alone.
But the conclusion was promising.
The questioned signature contained unusual signs of simulation.
Slow strokes.
Hesitation.
Retouching.
Someone had carefully drawn Mariana’s signature rather than naturally written it.
Then came another discovery.
The property document had supposedly been notarized.
Mariana had never met the notary.
Claire tracked her down.
Her name was Susan Park.
When Susan saw the document, she stared at the seal.
“That’s my stamp.”
Mariana’s heart sank.
Then Susan added:
“But I didn’t notarize this.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Are you certain?”
“My stamp was stolen six months ago.”
The room went silent.
“Did you report it?”
Susan nodded.
“To my employer and the police.”
Claire’s eyes met Mariana’s.
Now they had something stronger than suspicion.
They had a paper trail.
But Daniel still had one advantage.
The money.
By the time an emergency request reached the court, the condominium purchased under Teresa’s name had already been placed into a newly created company.
Then that company transferred ownership again.
Layers.
Someone knew exactly what they were doing.
Claire studied the filings.
“Daniel isn’t doing this alone.”
“Teresa?”
“Maybe. But this structure is sophisticated.”
Mariana remembered the folder.
“There were emails.”
They searched the photographs.
One address appeared repeatedly.
ARConsulting.
Claire investigated.
The company existed.
Its registered agent was a man named Anthony Rivas.
Daniel’s uncle.
A former mortgage broker.
Suddenly the plan looked much larger.
And then Mariana found something that made her blood run cold.
Daniel hadn’t merely planned to take the house.
A document in the folder estimated the value of Mariana’s retirement account.
Another listed her life insurance.
Another contained details about her parents’ property.
Daniel had mapped out everything connected to her.
Including assets he did not own.
Mariana drove immediately to her parents’ house.
Rafael was in the backyard.
“Dad, where’s Mom?”
“Sleeping.”
“Have you signed anything recently?”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Anything Daniel gave you?”
“No.”
“Mom?”
Rafael’s face changed.
“Last month Daniel brought papers over.”
Mariana stopped.
“What papers?”
“He said they were insurance forms.”
“Did Mom sign them?”
“I think so.”
Mariana ran inside.
Elena was awake.
“Mom, think carefully. What did Daniel ask you to sign?”
Her mother looked confused.
“Something about emergency medical information.”
“Where?”
“At your house.”
“Was Teresa there?”
“Yes.”
Mariana’s heart pounded.
“What did the papers look like?”
“I don’t remember.”
Then Elena’s expression changed.
“But Daniel made a mistake.”
“What?”
“He gave me two copies.”
Mariana stared at her.
“I thought one was mine to keep.”
“Where is it?”
Elena pointed toward her bedroom.
“In my Bible.”
Minutes later, Mariana unfolded the paper.
It wasn’t medical paperwork.
It was a limited power of attorney.
And buried inside the language was authorization involving Elena’s financial accounts.
Rafael stared at it.
“What the hell?”
Mariana photographed the document.
Then she noticed the witness signature.
Teresa Rivas.
But there was another name below Teresa’s.
A second witness.
Mariana recognized it.
She had seen that name every night for seven years.
Because the second witness worked beside Mariana at the bakery.
And suddenly this wasn’t only inside her family anymore.
May you like
Someone at her workplace had been helping Daniel.
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