Chapter 3 - $1.3 MillionMaya told Thaddeus not to confront Tabitha about the document yet.
He hated the advice.
He followed it.
By eight the next morning, Maya had brought in a forensic accountant named Laura Kim.
No family ties.
No history with Rowan Industrial Systems.
No reason to protect anyone.
Thaddeus liked her immediately because she showed no interest in his anger.
“I need account access.”
“You’ll have it.”
“Trust statements.”
“Yes.”
“LLC records.”
“Yes.”
“Corporate distributions involving family-owned shares.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop asking me how bad it is until I’ve looked.”
Thaddeus almost smiled.
“Fair.”
Grayson stayed home from school.
A pediatrician examined him that morning.
No serious physical injury.
The emotional consequences were less simple.
Thaddeus contacted a child therapist.
Police also took an initial report about Tabitha’s conduct.
She had already retained counsel.
No surprise.
Tabitha moved into a hotel.
She sent Thaddeus one text.
You are destroying this family because Bernice filmed one bad moment.
Thaddeus did not respond.
By afternoon, Laura found the first money trail.
The continuity trust had paid “property management and family preservation expenses” to Magnolia Ridge Properties.
Tabitha’s company.
Three years.
Total:
$486,000.
Thaddeus stared.
“For what?”
Laura shrugged.
“Invoices say estate coordination, residential planning, trust asset management.”
“Maya?”
Maya looked disgusted.
“The agreement gives her some authority to compensate service providers.”
“She hired herself.”
“Essentially.”
Laura continued.
“That’s not the largest issue.”
She opened another spreadsheet.
Two loans.
One for $425,000.
Another for $390,000.
Borrower:
Magnolia Ridge Properties.
Lender:
Rowan Family Continuity Trust.
Authorized by:
Tabitha Rowan, Co-Trustee.
Thaddeus leaned forward.
“Eight hundred fifteen thousand.”
“Yes.”
“Repaid?”
Laura shook her head.
“Interest paid for eleven months.”
“Then stopped.”
“Outstanding principal remains.”
Thaddeus added silently.
$486,000 in fees.
$815,000 in loans.
More than $1.3 million in money flowing toward Tabitha’s business.
“What is Magnolia Ridge?”
he asked.
Laura opened property records.
A failed redevelopment project outside Birmingham.
Tabitha had purchased land intending to build luxury townhomes.
Construction started.
Then interest rates rose.
One contractor sued.
Another lien appeared.
Sales never materialized.
Magnolia Ridge had been bleeding cash.
Thaddeus felt the pieces locking together.
“She used the trust to keep her project alive.”
“Looks possible.”
“Using authority from a forged agreement.”
Maya corrected:
“Suspected forged agreement.”
Thaddeus nodded.
Accuracy.
He was learning.
Then Laura pointed to something else.
“The loans were justified as diversified real-estate investments.”
“Did an independent person value them?”
“No evidence yet.”
“Did I approve?”
“One email says you did.”
Thaddeus froze.
“What email?”
Laura showed him.
From Thaddeus’s personal account.
To Tabitha.
If Magnolia Ridge terms remain secured by land value, I’m comfortable with the trust participating. Keep it under 900.
Thaddeus stared.
“I never wrote that.”
Maya looked at him.
“Certain?”
“Completely.”
Laura checked metadata from archived family servers.
The email had been sent while Thaddeus was in Dallas.
That alone proved nothing.
He could send email anywhere.
Then Laura showed the originating IP record.
Briarwood mansion.
Thaddeus had been in Texas.
Tabitha had been living at Briarwood that week helping with Grayson.
Thaddeus felt sick.
“She used my account.”
Maya asked:
“Who knew the password?”
“Tabitha did.”
Laura looked up.
“Why?”
“After Caroline died, she handled family correspondence for a while.”
Maya closed her eyes.
“Thaddeus.”
“I know.”
No defense.
He had handed control to the person Caroline warned him about.
Then Bernice called from upstairs.
“Mr. Rowan?”
“What?”
“Grayson wants you.”
Thaddeus went immediately.
Grayson sat at the breakfast table coloring.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Bernice said you wanted me.”
Grayson pulled a folded piece of paper from beneath his coloring book.
“I remembered.”
“What?”
“The blue folder.”
Thaddeus sat.
Grayson whispered:
“Aunt Tabitha took it upstairs before she got mad.”
“Where?”
“Grandma’s old sewing room.”
The room had become storage after Thaddeus’s mother died.
“Did she show you anything?”
“No.”
“I saw it when she opened it.”
“What did you see?”
“Mom’s name.”
“And mine?”
Grayson nodded.
Then:
“And a house.”
Thaddeus frowned.
“A picture?”
“Like a drawing.”
Maybe a property map.
“What else?”
Grayson thought.
“Red writing.”
“What did it say?”
“I don’t know.”
Then his expression changed.
“I know one word.”
“What?”
“Forgery.”
Thaddeus stopped breathing.
“Are you sure?”
“I asked Aunt Tabitha what it meant.”
“What did she say?”
Grayson looked down.
“She said it means when somebody makes a fake signature.”
Thaddeus’s chest tightened.
“Then she asked why I was reading her papers.”
“Is that when she got angry?”
Grayson nodded.
There.
The abuse had not begun because Grayson misbehaved.
He had seen evidence.
Thaddeus kissed his forehead.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I touched her folder.”
“It wasn’t hers.”
“How do you know?”
Thaddeus looked toward the hallway.
“Because I’m starting to understand what was inside.”
An hour later, police accompanied Thaddeus and Maya while retrieving business and estate materials Tabitha had left at Briarwood.
In the sewing room, behind boxes of fabric, they found an empty blue folder.
Nothing inside.
But beneath it lay one torn sheet.
A property valuation for Magnolia Ridge.
At the top, in red handwriting:
THIS WAS NEVER WORTH $1.8M. TABITHA IS LYING TO THE TRUST.
Thaddeus knew the handwriting.
Caroline.
May you like
His dead wife had investigated Magnolia Ridge before she died.
And she had known Tabitha was lying.
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