Chapter 3 - Following the Money
The revelation that Brenda was the mastermind behind this financial bloodbath left me completely stunned.
She was the woman who had hugged me at the airport five years ago, crying and promising to treat Keaton like a prince.
I knew I couldn't fight this battle alone, especially with my traumatized parents and sick child relying on me.
Using a burner phone I bought at a convenience store, I called a private investigator named Vance, highly recommended by a former employer.
Vance met us at the diner an hour later, a tall, sharp-eyed man who took one look at Keaton and immediately took the case.
"We need to get your family into a secure safehouse outside of state lines," Vance said, sliding a set of keys across the table.
He explained that he owned a remote cabin in the mountains where Big Mike and Donald could never find them.
Once my parents and Keaton were safely tucked away in Vance's vehicle, the real work began.
Vance hacked into the public tax records of Ashley Holdings, pulling up a spiderweb of real estate transactions.
Donald and Brenda hadn't just bought one house with my thirty-five thousand dollars a month.
They had used my money as a down payment on a massive commercial real estate scam, defrauding dozens of investors.
"They are using your income to prove legitimate cash flow while they launder millions," Vance explained, pointing at the screen.
"If this goes down, you are legally tied to it because the original seed money came from your accounts."
I felt nauseous, realizing they weren't just stealing from me, they were setting me up to take the fall for a federal crime.
"We need proof of their intent, something that shows you had no idea about this," Vance muttered, digging deeper into the files.
He clicked on a scanned document titled 'Insurance and Beneficiaries' hidden deep within the company server.
"Alisha, look at this," Vance said, his voice dropping to a grave whisper.
May you like
It was a life insurance policy taken out on my life, for a staggering five million dollars.
And the document had been signed and activated just twenty-four hours before I flew back home.
