{"id":9921,"date":"2026-09-12T19:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=9921"},"modified":"2026-09-12T19:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:28:09","slug":"part-4-a-forged-signature-and-four-secret-loan-applications-revealed-that-someone-had-been-preparing-to-steal-westside-for-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=9921","title":{"rendered":"PART 4 \u2013 A Forged Signature and Four Secret Loan Applications Revealed That Someone Had Been Preparing to Steal Westside for Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eric arrived at nine the following morning with a man I had never met.<\/p>\n<p>The stranger was in his fifties, broad-shouldered, gray at the temples, dressed in a dark sweater beneath a weatherproof coat. He carried no briefcase, only a laptop bag.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is Marcus Hale,\u201d Eric said. \u201cSecurity and financial fraud investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus shook my hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand you may have a compromised property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought I had a family dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His expression remained neutral.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose aren\u2019t mutually exclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We sat around my dining table.<\/p>\n<p>Noah\u2019s wooden frame remained near my elbow.<\/p>\n<p>Eric opened his laptop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe worked through the night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are transactions attached to Westside that neither of us recognizes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He turned the screen.<\/p>\n<p>A series of payments filled the display.<\/p>\n<p>The recipient was Caldwell Property Solutions.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the name.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictoria\u2019s company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoughly eight hundred forty thousand dollars over three years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked from him to Eric.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe verified it twice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s where it becomes interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus placed copies of invoices on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Landscaping improvements.<\/p>\n<p>Structural inspections.<\/p>\n<p>Security upgrades.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency repairs.<\/p>\n<p>Interior renovation.<\/p>\n<p>I pushed the papers back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI paid separately for all of those.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen these are duplicates?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He tapped one contractor\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis company doesn\u2019t exist at the listed address.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another invoice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis contractor exists, but says it never performed work at Westside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A third.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis firm dissolved before the invoice date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt a chill unrelated to the weather.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone created false expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat appears likely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing Victoria\u2019s company?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho authorized payment?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is one of the things we\u2019re tracing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric opened another folder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then we found this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He placed a mortgage application before me.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized my name immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth Bennett.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized the property description.<\/p>\n<p>Westside estate.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized the signature.<\/p>\n<p>Almost.<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn\u2019t mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The forgery was excellent.<\/p>\n<p>The first letter curved the way I formed it. The spacing was close. Whoever had produced it had studied samples.<\/p>\n<p>But Margaret used to tease me about one habit in my signature: I always shortened the final stroke when signing legal documents.<\/p>\n<p>The forged version extended it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwenty-three million dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re telling me someone applied for a twenty-three-million-dollar loan against a property I bought for ten?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout my authorization?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus slid over an enlarged copy of the signature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was deliberate identity fraud, Betty. Not a clerical error.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThree years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same phrase again.<\/p>\n<p>Three years.<\/p>\n<p>The year Victoria had begun asking questions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas the loan approved?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I exhaled.<\/p>\n<p>Then Eric did not close the folder.<\/p>\n<p>I noticed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He removed another application.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was filed six months later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another followed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then a fourth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFour attempts in total.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose name appears on them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric looked reluctant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteven\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the first time that morning, I felt genuinely unsteady.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe applications claim ownership had been transferred to Steven Bennett and that he controlled the property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never signed a transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood and walked toward the window.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neither man spoke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteven can be weak,\u201d I said. \u201cHe can be vain. Yesterday proved he can be cruel. But this\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I turned around.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t believe he forged my name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeither do I.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the filings are too sophisticated, and because several supporting documents contain information Steven probably never had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus added, \u201cSomeone appears to have used him as a legitimate-looking connection to the property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sat again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictoria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly,\u201d Eric said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t believe in coincidences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe in evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen find it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus slid another folder toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe already found something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Inside were photographs of Westside.<\/p>\n<p>Night photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Some were taken from the road. Others from farther up the hillside.<\/p>\n<p>Different seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Different vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Different dates.<\/p>\n<p>I flipped through them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long has someone been photographing the estate?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe earliest confirmed image is from September three years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Again.<\/p>\n<p>Three years.<\/p>\n<p>I studied one photograph.<\/p>\n<p>A man in a baseball cap was entering through a side service door carrying a case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus enlarged the image on his laptop.<\/p>\n<p>The face blurred slightly, but I knew the posture.<\/p>\n<p>I knew the jacket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas Reed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My gardener.<\/p>\n<p>He had worked at Westside for years.<\/p>\n<p>He knew the grounds better than almost anyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is he?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus and Eric exchanged a look.<\/p>\n<p>My chest tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is Thomas?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYesterday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter the birthday party?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore investigators could contact him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus showed me another image.<\/p>\n<p>Timestamp: 5:42 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was leaving the property carrying two boxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was in them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought about every access point on the estate.<\/p>\n<p>The garden storage building.<\/p>\n<p>Service corridors.<\/p>\n<p>Basement utility doors.<\/p>\n<p>The eastern terrace.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had moved around the property without attracting attention because that was his job.<\/p>\n<p>If someone wanted to observe the estate quietly, he would have been invaluable.<\/p>\n<p>My phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>Steven.<\/p>\n<p>I let it ring twice before answering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His voice sounded exhausted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt a hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere\u2019s Amanda?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith her mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteven, I need you to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was going to ask if I could.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCome alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to tell you everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen start preparing yourself to tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He arrived forty minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>Gone was the tailored suit from Noah\u2019s party.<\/p>\n<p>He wore jeans and a wrinkled shirt. Dark circles surrounded his eyes. For the first time in years, he looked less like the successful man he wanted everyone to see and more like my frightened son.<\/p>\n<p>He stopped when he saw Eric and Marcus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I placed the forged mortgage application in front of him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you sign this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He read it.<\/p>\n<p>His face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t need to. I\u2019ve never seen this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are four.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at Eric.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is she talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric explained.<\/p>\n<p>By the time he finished, Steven had gone pale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom, I swear to you, I didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I watched him.<\/p>\n<p>There are things a mother cannot know about an adult child.<\/p>\n<p>But there are also things she recognizes before evidence arrives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His eyes filled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter yesterday?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYesterday showed me you can be cowardly. It did not convince me you\u2019re a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He flinched, but nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t thank me yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you give Victoria?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He rubbed both hands over his face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI borrowed money from her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric glanced at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFour hundred thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor your business?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you come to me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His expression answered before his mouth did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSay it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf needing help?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf needing yours again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The words hurt more than I expected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you went to Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe offered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody like Victoria offers four hundred thousand dollars for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first, she didn\u2019t ask for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd later?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe started asking about Westside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho owned it. What kind of company it was. Whether the lease could be transferred. Whether we had any option to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you tell her I owned it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. I didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you give her the residential agreement?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric muttered under his breath.<\/p>\n<p>I ignored him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe gave me papers to sign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat papers?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought they were connected to refinancing my business debt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you read them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His silence answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteven.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou signed legal documents without reading them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My voice remained calm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were careless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His eyes closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Amanda know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knew about the loan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe papers?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou think?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know how much her mother told her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stood and moved away from the table.<\/p>\n<p>For six years I had believed Steven\u2019s greatest danger was financial failure.<\/p>\n<p>I had been wrong.<\/p>\n<p>His greatest danger was shame.<\/p>\n<p>Shame had made him hide.<\/p>\n<p>Shame had made him accept help from someone who wanted leverage.<\/p>\n<p>Shame had made him pretend he had built a life that had actually been supported by people he was embarrassed to acknowledge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did you let them push me out?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>He began crying.<\/p>\n<p>Not loudly.<\/p>\n<p>His shoulders simply dropped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t want Amanda\u2019s family knowing you were still helping us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I turned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I felt like a failure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>The answer beneath everything.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at my son and felt something closer to grief than anger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou thought accepting help made you weak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you hid the person who helped you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another nod.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when Victoria made me the embarrassing part of your life, you let her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is one of the saddest things you have ever told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. I don\u2019t think you do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He wiped his face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that you are sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan you forgive me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him for a long moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Before either of us could speak again, my phone vibrated.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus had stepped into the hallway during Steven\u2019s confession. Now a message from him appeared on my screen.<\/p>\n<p>We found something at Westside.<\/p>\n<p>An image followed.<\/p>\n<p>It showed a basement wall.<\/p>\n<p>Except the wall was open.<\/p>\n<p>Behind it was a narrow room I had never seen.<\/p>\n<p>I stood immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus came back into the dining room already holding his coat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA concealed space behind the basement stonework.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI designed that basement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently somebody redesigned part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s inside?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His expression told me the answer was bad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEquipment. Filing cabinets. Documents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of documents?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t touched more than necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I think law enforcement is going to need to see this exactly as we found it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steven stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs this about Victoria?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We drove to Westside shortly after noon.<\/p>\n<p>The remains of Noah\u2019s party made the house feel abandoned.<\/p>\n<p>Deflated balloons dragged along the ceiling. A gold ribbon lay across the foyer floor. Someone had forgotten a child\u2019s paper crown on the staircase.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus led us downstairs.<\/p>\n<p>At the far end of the basement, he stopped beside a stone wall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve walked past this wall a hundred times,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo has everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pressed a disguised latch.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the wall shifted inward.<\/p>\n<p>Cold air touched my face.<\/p>\n<p>A narrow concealed room stretched behind it.<\/p>\n<p>There were filing cabinets.<\/p>\n<p>Printers.<\/p>\n<p>Computer equipment.<\/p>\n<p>External drives.<\/p>\n<p>Boxes of records.<\/p>\n<p>And photographs.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of photographs.<\/p>\n<p>I stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>Then stopped.<\/p>\n<p>The first photograph showed my car outside my office.<\/p>\n<p>The second showed me leaving a grocery store.<\/p>\n<p>Another showed my home.<\/p>\n<p>Another showed me standing beside Margaret\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n<p>Another had been taken through a long lens while I sat at a restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>My skin went cold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are photographs of me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcus nodded.<\/p>\n<p>Steven whispered behind me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh my God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric opened one cabinet with gloved hands.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were copies of financial records.<\/p>\n<p>My investment accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Bank information.<\/p>\n<p>Insurance records.<\/p>\n<p>Corporate filings.<\/p>\n<p>Documents I had never provided to Steven.<\/p>\n<p>I moved toward another stack.<\/p>\n<p>Then I saw the folder.<\/p>\n<p>BENNETT ESTATE \u2014 ACQUISITION STRATEGY.<\/p>\n<p>My fingers shook as I opened it.<\/p>\n<p>The first pages described methods for obtaining control of Westside through financial pressure, forced sale or fraudulent transfer.<\/p>\n<p>Names followed.<\/p>\n<p>Victoria Caldwell.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Reed.<\/p>\n<p>A mortgage broker.<\/p>\n<p>A private investigator.<\/p>\n<p>I kept reading.<\/p>\n<p>Then I reached the final name.<\/p>\n<p>Amanda Caldwell.<\/p>\n<p>My daughter-in-law.<\/p>\n<p>Steven was standing close enough to see it.<\/p>\n<p>He made a small sound.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I turned another page.<\/p>\n<p>Handwritten planning notes described isolating Steven from me.<\/p>\n<p>Making him financially dependent.<\/p>\n<p>Weakening my connection to the household.<\/p>\n<p>Creating the public impression that I had no meaningful relationship to Westside.<\/p>\n<p>Then I found a reference to Noah\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n<p>The party had been identified as an opportunity to exclude me publicly.<\/p>\n<p>I read the passage twice.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday had not been an impulsive act of snobbery.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had planned it.<\/p>\n<p>They had wanted me humiliated.<\/p>\n<p>Angry.<\/p>\n<p>Alienated.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps angry enough to walk away.<\/p>\n<p>Eric found another document.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked over.<\/p>\n<p>It was a draft purchase agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Buyer: Caldwell Family Holdings.<\/p>\n<p>Purchase price: $4.2 million.<\/p>\n<p>My ten-million-dollar property.<\/p>\n<p>I gave a disbelieving laugh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey expected me to sell it for four million?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eric did not smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at the signature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I did.<\/p>\n<p>My name was already there.<\/p>\n<p>Forged again.<\/p>\n<p>Then I saw the proposed closing date.<\/p>\n<p>September 15.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks away.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had not merely been considering stealing my house.<\/p>\n<p>They were preparing to complete the transaction.<\/p>\n<p>Behind me, Steven had gone completely still.<\/p>\n<p>He stared at his wife\u2019s name on the acquisition plan.<\/p>\n<p>When he finally spoke, his voice sounded unlike anything I had ever heard from him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmanda knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I could not answer him.<\/p>\n<p>He picked up the page with shaking fingers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knew what they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His eyes met mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I brought her into this family.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=9922\">Click here to continue reading: PART 5: Amanda\u2019s Name Was on the Plan, but the First Confrontation Revealed She Had Been Trapped Long Before I Ever Noticed<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eric arrived at nine the following morning with a man I had never met. The stranger was in his fifties, broad-shouldered, gray at the temples, dressed in a dark sweater &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9941,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9921\/revisions\/9941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}