For the first time, Garret looked frightened.
Then Natalie’s assistant hurried into the conference room carrying a page fresh from the printer.
“County recorder alert,” she said.
“A claim was submitted electronically eleven minutes ago.”
Natalie took the page.
Her expression changed as she read it.
“What is it?” Audrey asked.
Natalie placed the document on the table.
Someone had attempted to record a quitclaim deed transferring an interest in Redwood Crest from Audrey to Garret.
The document bore a signature that resembled Audrey’s name, but the notary block was incomplete and the submission had been flagged for review.
The timestamp showed it had been filed after Garret learned about the pending sale.
Audrey looked at the phone.
Garret looked away.
“Do not end this call,” Natalie said.
“This is ridiculous,” Garret replied.
“I don’t know anything about county filings.”
Lorraine rose abruptly from the hotel table.
“Garret, hang up.”
Natalie heard her.
“No,” she said.
“Please remain connected.”
Garret’s face reddened.
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
“I’m preserving the call,” Natalie said.
“Audrey gave consent to record before you joined.
You have now threatened to make a false report concerning her mental health and custody, and a suspicious transfer document has appeared under your name.
Ending the call will not erase either event.”
Garret’s expression shifted from anger to calculation.
“Audrey,” he said, softening his voice, “this has gone too far.
You’re tired.
You just had a baby.
Let’s stop involving strangers in our marriage.”
Three days earlier, that tone would have worked.
It was the voice he used after every cruel remark, every humiliating dinner, every demand disguised as concern.
He would wound her in private, then become gentle the moment someone else entered the room.
Audrey looked down at Maya, sleeping in a carrier beside her chair.
The baby’s tiny fist rested against her cheek.
Audrey remembered standing in the rain while the keypad rejected her code.
She remembered Elena reaching for the door before Lorraine pulled her back.
She remembered Garret smiling from the airport and telling her to find a hotel.
“I tried to come home,” Audrey said.
“You locked your newborn daughter outside.”
“I locked you out,” he replied.
“Don’t dramatize it.”
The room went silent.
Even Garret seemed to realize what he had admitted.
Thomas picked up his pen again.
“I’m ready to sign,” he said.
Natalie stopped him long enough to call the title company’s fraud department.
The attempted filing had not been recorded because the signature verification failed and the notary information was defective.
The county placed an administrative hold on further electronic submissions concerning Redwood Crest while the document was investigated.
The title insurer requested copies of Audrey’s identification, the original deed, the prenup, and a sworn statement that she had never signed the transfer.
Audrey provided each one.
Garret stayed on the call for several more minutes, alternating between denial and threats.
First he claimed a broker must have submitted the document by mistake.
