Chapter 3 - The Loan
The loan application listed my job, my income, and the Phoenix house as collateral. Some of the details were old. Some were wrong. The signature on the consent form was the same imitation I had seen on the tax notice.
Nina made copies while I called Dad.
“Did you apply for a loan using my name?”
“No,” he said too quickly.
“I’m looking at the paperwork.”
A door closed on his end of the call. “Gwendolyn has been handling some bills.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“We needed money to fix the house.”
“The amount is three hundred thousand dollars.”
He didn’t answer.
I felt something settle heavily in my chest. “You knew she told me to get out of a house I partly own.”
“Paige, please don’t turn this into a war.”
I ended the call.
Nina helped me put a written dispute together for the lender and requests for the records behind the application. She also arranged for a property attorney to review the trust and title. It would take time to sort out who had submitted what. For now, we could make sure the lender knew I disputed my signature.
That night, Chloe posted a video from my old bedroom. She had moved in already. My mother’s blue curtains were piled on the floor behind her.
“Fresh start,” Chloe told her followers, spinning through the room. “Finally got the space I deserve.”
I nearly threw my phone across the kitchen.
Then Chloe turned the camera toward the desk. A familiar cedar picture frame sat there—the one I had left because I couldn’t fit everything into my car.
“More clearing out tomorrow,” she said. “Somebody left a whole attic full of junk.”
I called Dad again. He didn’t pick up. I sent a text asking him to leave Mom’s things alone.
His reply arrived ten minutes later.
Gwendolyn says there’s a truck coming Saturday. We need to make space.
Saturday was two days away.
May you like
Then a second message appeared, this one from a number I didn’t know.
If you want your mother’s things, come before they open the attic.
