Chapter 7 - The Company That Didn't Exist on PaperLone Star Development Partners sounded impressive.
In reality, according to Ryan, it was one failed real-estate project outside Dallas.
Margaret had invested in it three years earlier.
Or at least that was what she'd told everyone.
"They were building luxury homes north of the city," Ryan said.
Emily sat across from him in his home office.
Eleanor had gone upstairs to rest.
"How much did Margaret invest?"
"She said two hundred thousand."
"Her own money?"
"I thought so."
Emily looked at the loan document.
"Apparently not."
Ryan rubbed both hands across his face.
"She told me the project was doing well."
"Is it?"
"I don't know."
He opened his laptop.
A few searches later, his expression changed.
"What?"
Ryan turned the screen.
Lone Star Development Partners had been sued twice.
Contractor disputes.
Unpaid materials.
A lender foreclosure filing.
The planned luxury development appeared to have stalled after only seven homes.
Emily stared.
"When was this?"
"Last year."
"And Margaret never said anything."
"No."
Ryan opened another document.
His jaw tightened.
"What now?"
"My mother is listed as a managing investor."
Emily frowned.
"You said she was a passive investor."
"That's what she told me."
Another lie.
Ryan clicked through corporate filings.
Margaret Carter appeared repeatedly.
Not the face of the company.
But not uninvolved.
"Could she owe money?"
"Potentially."
"Enough to steal from Eleanor?"
Ryan didn't answer.
Emily rested both hands over her belly.
The baby moved beneath her palm.
She exhaled.
Ryan noticed.
"You okay?"
"He's moving."
He immediately came around the desk.
"Can I?"
She took his hand and placed it against her stomach.
A kick.
Ryan smiled for the first time in days.
Then his expression broke.
"I'm sorry."
Emily looked up.
"For what?"
"Bringing you here."
"We agreed to stay while the new house was being finished."
"I pushed for it."
"You wanted to be near Eleanor."
"And Mom."
Emily said nothing.
Ryan looked toward the door.
"I kept telling you she meant well."
"Sometimes she probably did."
He gave her a look.
Emily sighed.
"People aren't monsters every second of their lives, Ryan."
"She put something in your food."
"Yes."
"She could have hurt our son."
"Yes."
"So stop trying to make me feel better about her."
Emily studied him.
"I'm not."
"Then what are you doing?"
"Trying to keep you from believing your entire childhood was fake because your mother did something terrible."
Ryan looked away.
That was exactly what he'd been doing.
Emily reached for his hand.
"You can love who she was to you and still face who she is now."
Ryan's eyes filled.
"How are you comforting me?"
"Because you're my husband."
That word still meant something.
Maybe more now.
His phone rang.
Rebecca Sloan.
Ryan had hired her the day after Emily came home.
A former federal financial-crimes prosecutor turned private attorney.
He answered on speaker.
"I found Lone Star."
"So did we."
"Then you know it's insolvent."
Ryan looked at Emily.
"How bad?"
"Bad enough that multiple investors are being pursued for capital commitments."
"Mom?"
"Possibly."
Rebecca continued.
"And there is another issue."
Ryan sat.
"Go ahead."
"Three transfers from Eleanor's investment accounts went to Lone Star-related entities over the last eighteen months."
Emily's stomach tightened.
"How much?"
Rebecca paused.
"One point three million."
Ryan stood.
"Plus the home equity loan?"
"Correct."
"That's over two million dollars."
"Yes."
Ryan looked toward the ceiling.
Emily watched grief become fury.
"Can we prove Mom authorized it?"
"Some transfers were initiated using credentials associated with her power of attorney."
"So yes."
"Potentially. We need records."
"What about the forged signatures?"
"We're preserving those."
Emily spoke.
"Rebecca, my name is on the home equity paperwork."
"I saw."
"I didn't sign it."
"I believe you."
"How do we prove that?"
"Your location records from Denver help. The notary log may help more."
Ryan leaned forward.
"Patricia Wells."
"I'm already checking her."
Silence.
Then Rebecca said:
"Ryan, there's something you need to prepare yourself for."
He closed his eyes.
"What now?"
"Your grandmother's missing two million may not be the biggest exposure."
Ryan stared at the phone.
"How much bigger?"
"I found a personal guarantee attached to one of Lone Star's credit facilities."
"Whose?"
Rebecca hesitated.
Then answered.
"Yours."
Ryan froze.
Emily looked at him.
"Ryan?"
He couldn't speak.
Rebecca continued.
"The guarantee is for three point four million dollars."
Ryan finally whispered:
"I never signed anything."
"I know."
"How?"
"Because the signature is dated while you were in surgery for your appendix."
Emily remembered.
Three years earlier.
Ryan had spent four days in the hospital.
Margaret had visited every day.
Ryan's voice changed.
"Who witnessed it?"
Rebecca took a breath.
"Your mother."
May you like
And suddenly Margaret hadn't only stolen from Eleanor.
She had been quietly placing the entire family beneath her debt.
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