Chapter 6 - THE SIGNATURE THAT WASN’T MINE
Christopher met us at his office within an hour.
Ashley came too.
Not because I trusted her.
Because she was scared.
That made her useful.
“What did he file?” Christopher asked.
“I don’t know exactly.”
Ashley twisted a tissue between her fingers.
“Dwight said Monday was the trigger date.”
“Trigger for what?”
“He mentioned a loan.”
Christopher’s expression changed.
“What kind of loan?”
“Business refinancing.”
“Using what collateral?”
Ashley looked at me.
“My inheritance?”
She shook her head.
“The Annapolis house.”
I almost laughed.
“My grandmother’s house?”
Christopher was already typing.
The property had transferred into my name two weeks earlier.
I hadn’t even been notified that probate had closed.
Then he found it.
A pending home equity line.
Two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars.
Applicant:
Elizabeth Carter Mercer.
Co-applicant:
Dwight Mercer.
I stared at the screen.
“I never signed that.”
Christopher printed the documents.
The signature looked like mine.
Close enough to fool someone glancing quickly.
Not close enough to fool me.
Ashley covered her face.
“Oh God.”
Christopher called the lender’s fraud department.
Then the title company.
Then local police.
By late afternoon, the loan was frozen.
But Dwight didn’t know that yet.
Christopher looked at me.
“Do not tell him.”
“Why?”
“Because right now, he thinks his plan is working.”
My phone rang right on cue.
Dwight.
This time, Christopher nodded.
“Answer.”
I put him on speaker.
“Hello?”
Dwight sounded gentle.
“Liz, thank God.”
I said nothing.
“I’m sorry about Dad.”
Still nothing.
“He feels terrible.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
A pause.
“Can we talk?”
“We are.”
“In person.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re married.”
I almost laughed.
“Are we?”
His voice tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m thinking.”
“About divorce?”
I glanced at Christopher.
“Yes.”
Dwight exhaled slowly.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
There it was.
The mask slipping.
“What would be stupid?”
“Dragging lawyers into private family business.”
“Your father hit me.”
“He made a mistake.”
“Twice.”
“Elizabeth.”
His tone sharpened.
“We have financial commitments now.”
I looked at Christopher.
“What commitments?”
Silence.
Then Dwight recovered.
“The apartment.”
“What apartment?”
A long pause.
“We talked about this.”
“No. You talked. I transferred money.”
He hung up.
Ten minutes later, Susan called.
Then Gemma.
Then Jared.
I answered none of them.
At seven that evening, Ryan sent me a private message.
I need to talk to you without my family knowing.
I stared at it.
Then another message appeared.
Dad knows the loan got frozen.
And another.
Dwight is losing it.
Then one final text.
They’re blaming me because of the video. Dad just said if I don’t fix this, I’m out.
I showed Christopher.
“Could be a trap,” he said.
“Could be.”
Ryan sent one last attachment.
A photograph.
In it, Dwight stood in Jared’s office beside a large whiteboard.
May you like
At the top were three handwritten words:
ELIZABETH EXIT PLAN.
