Chapter 6: The Offer Evelyn Thought I’d Take
The title officer pulled the contract away from Evelyn.
“This closing is suspended.”
“You cannot suspend it over one woman’s poor recordkeeping,” Evelyn snapped.
Celia opened her journal.
“My entries are numbered.
That certificate uses number 4187.
The real entry belongs to a hospital consent form signed six months ago.”
Beckett turned toward Evelyn.
“You told me the paperwork was clean.”
“It is clean.”
“Then explain the stolen seal.”
“I stole nothing.”
Celia pointed to a photograph on Naomi’s tablet.
“My former assistant, Marla Dean, had access to my office.
She left after I discovered missing certificates.”
Ross stepped into the room with one of the officers from my house.
“Marla was at the mall,” he said.
“She sat inside the coffee shop while Mrs.
Vance paid me.”
Evelyn’s chair scraped the floor.
“You said you saw no one else.”
“I said I wasn’t looking.
The security footage was.”
Naomi turned the tablet around.
A still image showed Evelyn passing another envelope to a woman near the café.
Evelyn looked at me.
“You think this makes you clever?”
“No.
It makes you caught.”
She gave a short laugh.
“Hannah, may we speak privately?”
“No.”
“I am offering you a way out.”
“Say it in front of everyone.”
Evelyn reached into her handbag, but the officer stopped her hand.
“Slowly.”
She withdrew a cashier’s check and placed it on the table.
“Fifty thousand dollars.
Take Chloe, rent a nice apartment, and leave David.
I will cancel the sale.”
I looked at the check.
“You want me to surrender my home so you can hide what you did.”
“I want to remove a woman who has poisoned my son against his family.”
David stood.
“Mom, stop.”
“You owe me thirty-eight thousand dollars.”
“I’ll repay it.”
“With what?
Your career will be gone when I release the client records.”
His face lost its color.
I turned to him.
“What records?”
David gripped the back of his chair.
“The investment involved a client account.
I moved money before the authorization was final.”
Chloe whispered, “Dad?”
“I put it back,” he said quickly.
Evelyn’s eyes sharpened.
“Not all of it.”
Naomi stepped between Evelyn and David.
“You are threatening your own son to preserve a forged property transfer.”
“I am reminding him that loyalty has consequences.”
“So does fraud,” Celia said.
Evelyn tore the cashier’s check in half.
“You have no idea what you’ve stopped.
Beckett’s company advanced me the full amount yesterday.”
Beckett stood so quickly his chair struck the wall.
“You said the advance remained in escrow.”
“I moved it.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere secure.”
The officer lifted his radio.
Evelyn raised one finger.
“Before anyone celebrates, the loan was transferred to a private lender.
They hold the lien now.
If payment isn’t made by Friday, they will begin foreclosure proceedings.”
Naomi’s expression changed.
“You pledged the house twice?”
“I solved a problem.”
“You created a false debt against Hannah’s home.”
Evelyn picked up her handbag.
“Call it whatever you wish.
By Friday, she will either pay $210,000 or stand on the pavement with her boxes.”
My phone rang before she reached the door.
Naomi put the call on speaker.
A man introduced himself as counsel for the private lender.
“We will not pause enforcement,” he said.
May you like
“And according to our file, Mrs.
Hannah Vance personally guaranteed the entire amount.”
