During our divorce hearing, my husband laughed in front of the judge and called me his “pack mule,” claiming I’d contributed nothing to the restaurant we spent twenty years building.

She slid a copy across the desk.

At first, I did not understand what I was reading.

Then I saw my signature.

It was a partnership agreement dated six months before the fire, but unlike the document we had already found, this one contained an additional clause.

The clause stated that if either partner was unlawfully removed from the company’s records, the other partner would be required to account for all transferred assets and profits attributable to the original business.

I stared at the page.

“I don’t remember signing this.”

“You did,” Grace said gently. “The signature matches the one on your other business documents. The agreement was prepared by the attorney who represented both of you when the restaurant first opened.”

I tried to remember.

Then it came back to me.

Victor and I had been arguing about how to protect the restaurant if something happened to either of us. We had just welcomed our daughter, and I was worried about what would happen if one of us became ill or died.