Chapter 2 - The Dirty Banker
I stared at the forged signature on my phone screen in absolute horror.
The looping letters looked exactly like my handwriting, but I knew I had never signed this paper.
Marcus carefully took the phone from my hand and zoomed in on the document.
"This is a massive federal crime," he stated flatly.
He pointed to the bottom corner of the digital page, where a heavy black stamp rested.
"Look at the notary seal that approved this forgery," he instructed.
I squinted at the screen and read the name printed beneath the official state seal.
It was David Lawson.
David was my sister Heather’s wealthy, arrogant fiancé.
He managed the local branch of the bank that had allegedly issued this massive loan to my parents.
"He authorized a two-hundred-thousand-dollar mortgage without you ever being in the room," Marcus realized.
My parents were entirely broke, living off credit cards to fund Heather’s lavish lifestyle and Kaye’s ridiculous beauty pageants.
They had stolen the equity from my grandmother’s house to save themselves from bankruptcy.
I immediately called our lawyer, Sterling, who demanded we come to his office right away.
The drive downtown was tense and suffocatingly quiet.
Mia sat in the back seat, staring out the window just like she had on the day of that awful graduation party.
When we arrived, Sterling reviewed the email and the forged document with a grim expression.
"This is enough to put your parents and David in prison for a very long time," he confirmed.
However, he warned us that my parents would likely try to destroy Mia's reputation completely before they went down.
"We need to confront David at the bank before he can shred the original paperwork," Marcus suggested.
Sterling agreed, advising us to record every single word of the conversation on our phones.
Marcus and I left Mia safely at the law office and drove straight to David’s bank.
We bypassed the receptionist and marched directly into his glass-walled office.
David looked up from his computer, his face instantly draining of all color when he saw us.
"You have exactly one chance to explain why my forged signature is on a fraudulent mortgage," I told him coldly.
He stood up, stammering and looking frantically toward the closed blinds of his office.
"Your mother told me you agreed to it over the phone!" David pleaded.
I slammed my hand on his desk, making him flinch backward in his expensive suit.
"You know that is illegal, David, and now you are going to federal prison," Marcus threatened.
David collapsed into his leather chair and buried his face in his trembling hands.
"They blackmailed me," he whispered desperately.
He confessed that my parents knew a terrible secret about his past and threatened to expose it to his corporate bosses.
Before he could explain what the secret was, his office phone began to ring loudly.
David glanced at the caller ID, and sheer panic washed over his features.
"It is your mother," he said, his voice shaking.
I reached across the desk and hit the speakerphone button myself.
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"David, you need to transfer the funds to the offshore account right now," my mother’s voice barked through the speaker.
"The police are already at Sarah's house, and we need to be gone before she figures it out."
