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He shrugged. “I guess. I don’t do any work with my father’s real estate ventures. It’s Ashleigh who handles this kind of thing for him.”
I froze there in the doorway to the office as the words hit me.
Ashleigh.
“Say that again.”
He picked up a paper off of the ground and brought it over to me. “Ashleigh handles this kind of thing. My dad doesn’t involve himself with small, technical work.”
“But it’s all signed by him.”
“No,” he said, handing me the paperwork. “See.”
I stared down at the paper. The signature there that said Arnold Sinclair. “I don’t see.”
“That’s her forge. She got really good at it in high school. I could recognize it anywhere.”
I stumbled back a step at the news. “Forged.”
Now, that was damning.
The rest of it had been legal. Despite how frustrating it had been—the second offer, the permit, the health inspection—all of that had been perfectly legal. But if Arnold Sinclair hadn’t actually been doing any of this…and Ashleigh had been forging his name … well, that was criminal.
“Why…why would she do this?” I asked him. My shock registered on my face.
He shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Why does my sister do anything?”
That I definitely didn’t have an answer to.
But Ashleigh of all people?
She was dating Julian. They’d been together for two years. She had to want him to succeed. It was illogical.
Fuck. Julian!
I dashed out of the office without a word to Chase. He called my name as I sprinted down the stairs at a pace that would have normally been terrifying in four-inch heels, but adrenaline propelled me forward. My eyes darted around the living room, but there was no sign of Julian.
I texted him.
Where are you?
Out by the pool. Why?
Don’t move.
I braced against the cold as I darted toward the back exit. Chase caught up with me as I raced outside.
“Annie, what are you doing?” he asked.
“Righting a wrong.”
“You’re going to freeze.”
He stripped out of his jacket and offered it to me. I deliberated and then decided to take it. It was too cold not to.
“Fine,” I said, pulling it around my shoulders.
I found Julian standing with Ashleigh next to an outdoor heater. With a deep breath, I sent him the pictures I’d taken and then approached. He was peering down at his phone when I stopped in front of him.
His brow was furrowed as he read.
“Annie!” Ashleigh gushed. “Where have you and Chase been?”
She asked it in that cutesy voice of hers. And of course, it probably did look bad that we’d disappeared at his party, and I showed back up in his jacket, but I was so beyond caring.
“Why did you do it?” I asked her. I still clutched her forged signature in my hand.
“Do what?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.
“What is this that you sent me, Annie?” Julian said. He glanced up at me. His eyes were wide. He knew exactly what I’d sent him.
“I stumbled across that in the Sinclair’s study.”
Julian’s face paled. “Really?”
“What is it, baby?” Ashleigh asked.
She leaned against him to try to see his phone, but he turned it away from her.
Oh yeah, he knew now.
“Why did you do it?” I repeated to Ashleigh.
“I still don’t understand.”
“Wait…how is Ashleigh involved?” Julian asked.
“Ashleigh handles her father’s affairs, don’t you?” I held up the piece of paper. “And that’s the signature you forged, isn’t it?”
Ashleigh blustered, “Annie, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
But she didn’t say it the way that Chase had with any sincerity. She said it like she’d been caught and was trying to figure out a way to get out of this.
Julian blinked. “You tried to sabotage the winery?”
“No!” Ashleigh cried.
“All those times that I complained to you about how hard it was to get anything done at the winery. When I told you that I wanted to know who was doing this to us. I even suggested it was a ghost, and you latched on to that so quickly,” he said, as if putting all the pieces together. “You wanted it to be a ghost. That way, it wasn’t you all along.”
Ashleigh looked like a cornered dog. I didn’t know if she was going to roll over or bite.
“It was Daddy!” she said, tears bursting from her eyes, as if on cue. “That’s his signature. He wanted to do it.”
Chase jumped in. “Ashleigh, we both know that’s not Dad’s signature.”
“Why would you do this?” Julian asked. He looked half like he wanted to comfort her and half-horrified.
“I didn’t. I swear!” she gushed.
Julian shook his head. “Tell me the truth.”
He looked ready to shake her.
She wiped her eyes. Thank God for waterproof mascara. A hiccup and then, “I…I just wanted you to work for Daddy.”
Julian’s face was a mask of shock. “You…what?”
“You didn’t want to work for Wright,” she told him, reaching out for his hand. “You told me that so many times. You weren’t valued there. You weren’t your brother. I wanted you to have the winery when it was your idea! Then you brought your brother on, and suddenly, it wasn’t even your winery anymore. It was his. You were pushed to the side. I wanted you to have your own thing. Where you weren’t connected to your brother.”
