Chapter 5 - The House Wasn't for JessicaThe property wasn't simply a house.
It was the headquarters of a business Brandon intended to launch.
Northstar Property Holdings wasn't a side investment.
It was the beginning of a real estate company.
The $170,000 he had taken from our savings was being used as seed money.
The secret house was an office.
Jessica wasn't merely his assistant.
She was his business partner.
And I had unknowingly financed the entire thing.
Claire obtained corporate filings.
Brandon owned 60 percent.
Jessica owned 40 percent.
I wasn't listed anywhere.
But the money had come from our joint account.
Then we discovered something else.
Brandon had already signed contracts with three investors.
He had promised them that Northstar would purchase and renovate properties.
One investor had transferred $75,000.
Another had transferred $50,000.
The third had committed $100,000.
But Brandon had spent much of the initial capital already.
He had been using our money to cover business expenses.
If the business failed, the investors would come after him.
And possibly me.
Because he had forged my signature.
I felt sick.
“How close was I to losing everything?”
Claire looked at the documents.
“Very.”
My mother was sitting quietly across the room.
She finally spoke.
“Then the fight wasn't about me.”
“No,” I said.
“It was about getting you alone.”
I nodded.
She reached across the table and squeezed my hand.
“I am sorry.”
I smiled sadly.
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Then Claire's phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“Who?”
She put the call on speaker.
It was a bank investigator.
They had found another account.
A savings account opened under my name.
The address was Brandon's office.
The account had been used to receive payments from one of his investors.
There were $32,000 in it.
I had never opened it.
My name had been forged again.
I closed my eyes.
“This is identity theft.”
“Yes,” Claire said.
The investigator continued.
“There is also a notarized authorization attached to the account.”
“Who notarized it?”
A name.
I recognized it.
The notary worked at Brandon's office.
Claire wrote the name down.
“Thank you. We'll follow up.”
When the call ended, the room was silent.
Then my mother said:
“Elena, he didn't just want your money.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wanted your identity.”
I looked at her.
She continued.
“Your credit. Your signature. Your property. Your reputation.”
The truth hit me.
Brandon wasn't simply leaving me.
He was trying to build a new life using everything I had spent years building.
That afternoon, Claire filed a formal fraud complaint.
We also notified the investors.
One of them immediately agreed to meet.
His name was Thomas Hale.
He arrived at Claire's office looking furious.
“I invested $75,000 because Brandon told me his wife was a silent partner.”
I stared at him.
“I was never a partner.”
Thomas looked stunned.
“He showed me documents.”
“Forged documents.”
He sat down.
Then he said:
“There were more.”
Claire leaned forward.
“What more?”
Thomas opened his briefcase.
He pulled out a folder.
“I was given a copy of the business plan.”
Claire took it.
She flipped through the pages.
Then stopped.
I watched her face change.
“What?”
She turned the document toward me.
The final page contained a list of assets.
My house.
My investment accounts.
My mother's inheritance.
My future earnings.
Everything.
It wasn't just a business plan.
It was a liquidation plan.
Brandon had intended to convert everything I owned into cash.
I felt strangely calm.
Then I smiled.
“Let him think his plan is still working.”
Claire looked at me.
“You have an idea?”
“Yes.”
May you like
I picked up my phone.
“For the first time in seven years, I'm going to let Brandon believe he's smarter than me.”
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