Ten minutes later, the door creaked open to the office.
I jolted at the sudden interruption.
“I knew I’d find you in here,” Chase said.
He stopped with the door half-closed when he saw me on the ground, surrounded by paperwork.
“Uh, what are you doing?”
I jumped to my feet. “Did you know?”
“Know what?” he asked.
“Was it you?”
“Annie, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He stepped deeper into the room. “What’s all this paperwork? Were you going through my dad’s things?”
“I spilled champagne on them on accident. I was airing them out.”
A half-truth. It had been the original purpose of putting them on the floor. The real reason was so that I could take photographs of all the evidence with my phone.
“Was that why you were on the floor?”
“Chase, tell me if you knew.”
“Perhaps you should elaborate.”
I shook my head. I’d gotten all the information I needed, and if Chase was involved, then I needed to get out of there. Being stuck upstairs with him was not high on my priority list.
“I’m going,” I said, pushing past him toward the door.
He grabbed my shoulder. His eyes full of alarm. “What’s the rush? What’s going on? Just talk to me, Annie.”
“You sabotaged the winery,” I snapped at him.
Confusion remained on his face. “I’m sorry, what?”
“The winery!” I said, my anger getting the better of me. “You and your family tried to ruin the new winery venture by the Wrights.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Someone tried to sabotage the winery?”
“Just go look at the paperwork,” I said, throwing my hand toward the papers on the floor.
“Okay,” he said uncertainly. “Don’t leave yet.”
He stepped over to the paperwork and read through everything that I’d found. His confusion turned to dismay. Then he shook his head and looked back up at me. “I had nothing to do with any of this. I had no idea, Annie. I was in Houston for most of when this went down, judging by the dates.”
Which made sense, of course, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been playing me all along.
“And you just happened to come home in the middle of this?” I demanded.
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.”
“Where I was connected to you,” he said hollowly. “Beholden to you.”
“No, never!” she cried, reaching for him again.
He stepped back. “No, I think I understand perfectly, Ashleigh.”
Real tears fell this time when she suddenly saw what was happening. “Please, Julian. Please, I love you.”
“You took the venture I loved and cared about, the venture I invited my brother to be a part of, and then you tried to destroy it.”
“That’s not what happened!”
But it was.
“And you did it for selfish reasons. Because you’re selfish.” Julian shook his head and took another step back. “We’re done.”
“No,” Ashleigh gasped, falling to her knees before him and clutching him. “Julian, no, please. Please don’t say that. I love you. I only had your own interests at heart.”
It was painful to watch. Because she had deluded herself enough to believe the words coming out of her mouth.
Julian tugged back, releasing her grip on him. “I think you believe that, but it’s not true.”
Then he turned his back on her and walked out of the party. Chase knelt down next to his sister, but I didn’t have an ounce of pity for her. Not after the lengths she’d gone to try to hurt people I cared about.
I followed Julian out of the party and touched his arm. “Hey. Are you going to be okay?”
He looked up at the stars and shrugged. “I don’t know. Two years. Two years with her and then…” He splayed out his hands.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lay this in your lap, but…”
“No, I’m glad you did. I need to tell Jordan and Hollin.”
I nodded. “I understand. That’s a good idea.”
“How are you getting home?” he asked.
“Uh…”
“I’ll drive you,” he said, pointing out his SUV down the block.
“I can catch an Uber. It’s fine.”
“Just get in, Annie. Jordan would kill me if you didn’t get home safe.”
“Are you…are you going to tell him I was here?” I asked as we walked over to his car.
Julian blew out a breath. “You don’t want him to know that you figured this out?”
“I just…I’m not ready to deal with him.”
Julian nodded, the weight of his latest breakup heavy on him. “I understand that. I can’t imagine talking to Ashleigh anytime soon.” He opened the passenger door for me. “Guess we’ll both have to deal.”
And wasn’t that the damn truth?