I forgave him.
But I never again signed financial documents casually.
So when Adrian brought home paperwork for his new company and asked me to pledge my premarital property as collateral—
I smiled.
Read it.
Then took it to an independent notary before signing anything.
First, I created a revocable property trust tied to my father’s estate.
Then I signed Adrian’s company forms with a conditional authorization rider.
Any transaction over ten thousand dollars involving my protected assets required separate secondary authentication from me personally.
Adrian never read the attached codicil.
He was too eager.
Too confident.
Too busy getting the papers back.
I told Marcus:
“He believes the transfer is scheduled for two this afternoon.”
“And your secondary authentication?”
“Routes to a private email Adrian doesn’t know about.”
Marcus was quiet for a second.
Then:
“And two-factor authentication?”
“Enabled.”
He actually chuckled.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“You didn’t build yourself a safety net.”
