Chapter 6
I wanted to hate Margaret.
For five full minutes, I did.
She had been my father’s attorney for almost thirty years.
She attended my wedding.
She came to the hospital after Noah was born.
She stood beside me at Dad’s funeral.
And somehow she had kept an autopsy from me.
“What happened to my father?”
Margaret looked older than she had one minute earlier.
“The official cause of death was cardiac arrest.”
“That’s what I was told.”
“Yes.”
“What wasn’t I told?”
“He had medication in his system that did not match his prescriptions.”
My hands went numb.
“What medication?”
“A sedative.”
“How much?”
“Enough to concern the medical examiner.”
I stared at her.
“Was he poisoned?”
“We never established that.”
“You said there was an autopsy.”
“There was.”
“Why didn’t police investigate?”
“They did.”
“What?”
“Briefly.”
I felt betrayed all over again.
“You let me bury him without telling me?”
“Your father had a documented heart condition. The level of medication was unusual, but not automatically lethal.”
“Where did it come from?”
“We never found out.”
I stepped away from the table.
Noah stirred on the sofa.
I lowered my voice.
“Why was this hidden from me?”
“It wasn’t hidden legally.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“Robert had written instructions.”
“My dead father instructed you to hide his own suspicious death from me?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then exactly.”
“If his death appeared natural and no direct evidence of foul play was found, he wanted you protected from his business disputes.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That worked beautifully.”
“I argued with him.”
“But you obeyed.”
“Yes.”
“Did Ethan know?”
“No.”
“Diane?”
“I don’t know.”
“Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel interrupted.
“My father probably knew.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because he knew everything connected to Robert.”
“That sounds dramatic.”
“It is not.”
Daniel sat down.
“After my sister died, I went through her private files. She had a list of dates. Meetings. Payments. Personal events involving people my father considered important.”
“Was my father on it?”
“Yes.”
“His death?”
Daniel nodded.
“What was written beside it?”
He hesitated.
I stepped closer.
“Tell me.”
“Resolved.”
My stomach turned.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“It could mean the acquisition issue was resolved because Robert died.”
“Or it could mean something else.”
“Yes.”
Margaret placed a hand on my arm.
I pulled away.
“I need the letter.”
She nodded.
“I brought it.”
She opened her briefcase.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
Dad’s handwriting covered the front.
FOR LAUREN, ONLY IF THEY COME AFTER WHAT I LEFT HER.
My knees almost gave out.
I sat.
Margaret slid the letter across the table.
I opened it carefully.
My darling girl,
If Margaret has given you this letter, then something I feared has happened.
First, I am sorry.
I spent my life believing I could keep business problems away from my family. I may have been wrong.
There is a man named Victor Hale.
He will present himself as an investor.
He is not merely an investor.
He has spent years trying to gain control of the northern property because of what lies beneath it and what the state plans to build beside it.
I stopped.
“What lies beneath it?”
Margaret shook her head.
“Keep reading.”
I continued.
The public value of that property is based on future development. Its private value is far greater.
In 1999, geological surveys conducted during an industrial project found a large deposit of high-grade limestone suitable for cement production.
Dad had never told me.
I read on.
The mineral rights were separated from the surface rights through a holding company. Victor discovered this arrangement and attempted to buy both.
I refused.
He does not know where the mineral rights ultimately sit.
I looked at Margaret.
“Do you?”
“No.”
I kept reading.
Thomas Carter helped me structure the original acquisitions.
I trusted Thomas.
Then I discovered he had been reporting information to Victor.
My breath caught.
Ethan’s father.
I looked at the photograph again.
Dad continued.
Thomas later claimed he was trying to protect his family because Victor had financed his failing business.
I never learned whether that was true.
When Thomas died, Diane approached me privately.
She said Victor still expected repayment.
She asked me to help her.
I paid the debt.
I thought that ended it.
It did not.
I lowered the letter.
“Dad paid Diane’s debt?”
Margaret nodded.
“He never told you?”
“No.”
“Continue.”
Victor then began approaching employees, vendors, and eventually people near you.
I have taken precautions.
If something happens to me, do not assume Ethan is involved simply because he is Thomas’s son.
I froze.
Dad knew Ethan.
Of course he did.
But the wording was strange.
Do not assume Ethan is involved.
I continued.
I met Ethan after learning you were dating.
I investigated him without telling you.
I am sorry for that too.
I found no evidence that he knew anything about Thomas’s history with Victor.
Ethan appeared to love you.
I believed he did.
Tears blurred the words.
For the first time all night, something loosened in my chest.
Dad had investigated Ethan.
He had believed our relationship was real.
At least then.
I kept reading.
But people under pressure change.
Protect Noah.
Protect yourself.
Trust documents more than promises.
And remember what I always told you:
If someone desperately wants you to look in one direction, turn around.
Love,
Dad.
I read the last line again.
Turn around.
“What was everyone trying to make me look at?” I whispered.
Daniel answered first.
“The northern land.”
“The land, the trust, the loans.”
Margaret leaned forward.
“Your father specifically said Victor did not know where the mineral rights were held.”
“So maybe he never wanted the land.”
“He wanted both.”
“But what if the land was the distraction?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“The mineral rights could be worth far more.”
“How much?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Depending on extraction feasibility? Potentially tens of millions.”
The room went silent.
I thought about the fake companies Victor mentioned.
Companies created in my name.
“What if Ethan transferred the mineral rights without knowing what they were?”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
“Do you have the corporate files?”
I opened the laptop.
We searched Ethan’s records.
Dozens of LLC names.
Most meant nothing.
Carter Holdings Seven.
LRC Capital.
North Ridge Management.
Blue Quarry Partners.
I stopped.
“Blue Quarry.”
Margaret leaned closer.
“Open it.”
Inside were incorporation documents.
My name appeared as majority member.
My signature appeared three times.
I had signed none of them.
Daniel muttered a curse.
We opened the asset schedule.
There it was.
MINERAL AND SUBSURFACE RIGHTS ASSOCIATED WITH PARCELS 11–27.
Transferred from a company called RMC Heritage Holdings.
To Blue Quarry Partners.
Three months earlier.
I felt my pulse in my throat.
“Who owns the rest of Blue Quarry?”
Margaret searched.
The documents listed a 49 percent member.
TLC Ventures.
“Who is TLC?”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What?”
“TLC.”
“You know it?”
“Yes.”
He pulled out his phone.
“TLC Ventures was one of my father’s shell companies.”
My stomach dropped.
“So Victor owns forty-nine percent of the mineral rights.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“If Ethan’s transfer was based on forged authorization, it can be challenged.”
Margaret was already typing notes.
“But we need to move immediately.”
I searched deeper.
There was a draft agreement.
Blue Quarry Partners was scheduled to sell all mineral rights to another company.
Closing date: tomorrow.
Purchase price: $18 million.
Buyer: Cumberland Materials Group.
I stared at the screen.
“Tomorrow.”
Margaret stood.
“We file for an emergency injunction at opening.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You may not have until morning.”
“Why?”
“My father structures deals to close electronically.”
“What time?”
“Sometimes one minute after midnight.”
I looked at the clock.
11:47 p.m.
Thirteen minutes.
Margaret grabbed her phone.
“I’ll contact the trustee and the bank.”
Daniel was already calling someone else.
I searched for the escrow information.
Then an email appeared.
Sent earlier that day from Ethan to the closing attorney.
DO NOT CLOSE. AUTHORITY DISPUTED. FRAUD SUSPECTED.
My breath caught.
“He tried to stop it.”
Daniel leaned over my shoulder.
Another email followed.
From the closing attorney.
Mr. Carter, we have received contrary instructions from Lauren Carter via valid digital certificate. Unless restrained by court order, closing will proceed.
I stared.
“I never sent that.”
Someone had my digital credentials.
Someone was pretending to be me.
Margaret was shouting into her phone now.
I opened the attached authorization.
It had my electronic signature.
My driver’s license.
A video verification screenshot.
A woman sat in front of a webcam holding my ID.
At first the image was blurry.
Then I zoomed in.
Blonde hair.
My stomach dropped.
“That’s not me.”
Margaret looked.
Daniel looked.
I zoomed further.
The woman had altered her hair.
Different makeup.
Glasses.
But I knew the face.
Because she had sat across from me at Christmas dinner.
She had held Noah when he was a baby.
She had called herself Grandma for five years.
Diane.
At 11:52, my phone rang from an unknown number.
I answered.
Diane spoke before I could say a word.
“Lauren, I need you to listen to me.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You impersonated me.”
Silence.
“You used my ID.”
“I was trying to undo something.”
“You authorized the sale.”
“I had to make them believe it would proceed.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor won’t show himself unless he believes he’s won.”
I stared at Daniel.
He shook his head.
He did not trust her either.
“Where is Ethan?”
Diane’s breathing changed.
“With me.”
My heart lurched.
“Put him on.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s unconscious.”
I stood.
“What happened?”
“Victor’s men followed him.”
“Is he hurt?”
“Yes.”
“How badly?”
“He needs a hospital.”
“Then call an ambulance!”
“I can’t yet.”
I gripped the phone so hard my fingers hurt.
“Diane, if you let anything happen to my husband—”
“I’m trying to save him!”
“You assaulted my son six hours ago!”
Her voice broke.
“I know.”
For the first time, she sounded ashamed.
“I panicked.”
“You locked him in a pantry.”
“I know.”
“You dumped freezing water on him.”
“I know!”
She began crying.
“He saw me take the drive. Victor told me if I didn’t bring it to him, he would go after Ethan. I lost control.”
“That doesn’t excuse anything.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You can hate me later.”
“I already do.”
She sobbed once.
Then her voice hardened.
“But if you want Ethan alive, stop the closing.”
“We’re trying.”
“No. Don’t stop it publicly.”
“What?”
“Let Victor believe it closed.”
Daniel stepped closer.
I put the call on speaker.
Diane continued.
“He is going to Cumberland’s private airfield after the transfer.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“My father has a plane there.”
Diane whispered,
“He plans to leave the country tonight.”
“Where are you?”
“Near the airfield.”
“With Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“Take him to the hospital.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“As soon as Victor is gone.”
I nearly screamed.
“Diane!”
A loud bang came through the phone.
Diane gasped.
Someone shouted in the distance.
Then the line cut.
I called back.
Nothing.
Daniel grabbed his coat.
“We need police at that airfield.”
Margaret looked at the clock.
11:58.
Two minutes until midnight.
My laptop chimed.
A new email.
Cumberland Closing Portal.
TRANSACTION COMPLETE.
I stared at it.
For one horrifying second, I believed eighteen million dollars of stolen rights had just vanished.
Then Margaret’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
And smiled for the first time all night.
“The bank froze settlement.”
Daniel exhaled.
“So Victor thinks the sale closed?”
“The electronic portal shows completion.”
“But the funds are frozen.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Dad’s final line.
If someone desperately wants you to look in one direction, turn around.
Victor believed he had won.
For the first time, he might stop hiding.
Daniel looked at me.
“Then we have one chance to catch him.”
I looked at Noah sleeping across the room.
Then at the photograph of my father.
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“No?”
“The police catch him.”
May you like
I picked up my phone.
“I’m going to find my husband.”
