Chapter 9 - The Ultimatum
Tiffany stared at me, completely baffled by my sudden lack of fear.
She pressed the call button and put the phone on speaker for me to hear.
The automated voice of the commercial lending bank echoed loudly in our hallway.
Before the system could connect her to an agent, I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a second stack of legal papers.
"While you were busy crying in a restaurant parking lot last night, I was on the phone with my attorney."
I handed the thick stack of freshly printed documents directly to Kevin.
Kevin's eyes rapidly scanned the bold legal text on the first page, and his jaw completely dropped.
"What is this?" Kevin whispered in horror.
"That is a legally binding confession of identity theft and wire fraud," I explained smoothly.
"It details exactly how you forged your mother's signature to illegally leverage her property."
I pulled a silver pen from my pocket and held it out to him.
"You are going to sign that document right now, admitting full criminal guilt for the fraudulent mortgage."
"You are also signing a secondary clause that completely relinquishes any future claim to our family trust, our house, and Gloria's business."
Tiffany screamed and tried to snatch the papers out of his hands.
"Don't you dare sign that, Kevin!" she shrieked.
"If he signs that, you have everything you need to send us to federal prison!"
"Exactly," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous, deadly whisper.
"If you sign it, Kevin, I will immediately call the bank and pay off the defaulted balance using my own money to save the restaurant."
"I will take the debt onto my own shoulders, and the investors will have no legal claim to the property."
"But if you refuse to sign it, I will let Tiffany make her phone call, and I will hand this forged document directly to the police."
"You will both be arrested for fraud before the investors ever get the chance to break your legs."
Kevin looked at his furious wife, then looked down at the terrifying papers in his hands.
He was completely trapped between federal prison and the wrath of the people he owed.
His hands shook violently as he took the silver pen from my fingers.
He pressed the tip to the paper and quickly signed his name on the dotted line.
He handed the papers back to me, looking like a completely broken man.
"You don't understand what you just did, Dad," Kevin whispered, his eyes darting nervously toward the street.
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"You think you just saved the restaurant from a bank."
"But those private investors never actually worked for a bank."
