Chapter 2 - THE SIGNATURE
At 9:04 the next morning, I walked into Nathan Cole’s law office carrying Sophia on one hip and the folder under my arm.
Nathan had handled my divorce.
He was forty-one, calm under pressure, and very difficult to shock.
That morning, I shocked him.
“My parents threw us out last night.”
Nathan removed his glasses.
“Out of their apartment?”
“My apartment.”
He stared at me.
Then I slid the deed across his desk.
He read the first page.
Then the second.
His eyebrows rose.
“Laura, this is straightforward. You’re the recorded owner.”
“I know.”
“So why are they acting like—”
I placed the loan agreement beside it.
“That’s why I’m here.”
Nathan picked it up.
His expression changed immediately.
He read my alleged signature twice.
“Did you sign this?”
“No.”
“Authorize it?”
“No.”
“Power of attorney?”
“Never.”
“Verbally approve the loan?”
“I didn’t even know it existed.”
Nathan leaned back.
Sophia sat beside me coloring on a legal pad.
Finally, he said, “Then we may have a serious problem.”
“How serious?”
He tapped the signature line.
“If somebody knowingly signed your name to secure a loan against property you own, we aren’t talking about a family misunderstanding.”
My stomach tightened.
“What are we talking about?”
“Potential fraud.”
The word landed heavily.
My phone buzzed.
MOM.
Come get the rest of your junk before I put it on the sidewalk.
Then another message.
And don’t ask your father for money.
Karla texted next.
Hope you enjoy paying your own bills now.
Nathan watched my expression.
“They still think you depend on them.”
“Yes.”
“Do they know you found this?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I looked up.
“Good?”
“Laura, the worst thing you could do right now is confront them before we know exactly what happened.”
He stood and walked toward a cabinet.
“We pull the recorded documents. We identify the lender. We compare signatures. We find out who benefited from the loan.”
“And if it was my parents?”
Nathan looked at me.
“Then they have much bigger problems than whether you’re sleeping in their spare room.”
I hated how relieved I felt.
They were my parents.
Part of me still wanted Nathan to say it was probably a mistake.
He didn’t.
Instead, he scanned the paperwork.
Then he stopped at a page I hadn’t paid much attention to.
“Wait.”
“What?”
He pointed to the disbursement section.
The original loan had been for $110,000.
My mouth went dry.
“What did they need one hundred and ten thousand dollars for?”
Nathan studied the routing information.
“I don’t know yet.”
He turned the page.
Then his eyes narrowed.
“What?”
He slid the paper toward me.
A portion of the money had gone directly to a private account.
The account holder’s first name was visible.
May you like
Karla.
My sister.
