Chapter 2 - The Account With My Name On It
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The woman near the entrance looked to be in her mid-forties.
Dark hair.
Gray coat.
Leather folder under one arm.
She had the uncomfortable expression of someone who had walked into a conversation she immediately wanted to leave.
My father looked as if he had seen a ghost.
“Janet.”
Aunt Valerie’s eyes narrowed.
“You know her?”
Dad stood straighter.
“She’s a real estate agent.”
The woman gave a small nod.
“Property manager now, technically.”
My mother closed her eyes.
That tiny reaction told me Janet was not a stranger.
I looked at the keys.
“What property?”
Janet’s gaze moved from Dad to me.
“I’m sorry. I thought Richard asked me to bring these.”
“I did,” Dad said quickly.
“Not here.”
That made everything worse.
I stood.
“What are they for?”
Dad stepped toward me.
“Ethan, this is not how I wanted you to learn any of this.”
My laugh came out sharp.
“You keep saying that like there was some good way to learn you emptied a college account I didn’t know existed.”
“We didn’t empty it.”
Ryan turned his phone toward him.
“Ninety thousand dollars disappeared.”
“I know what the statement says.”
“Apparently Ethan didn’t.”
Valerie put one hand on Ryan’s shoulder.
“Let him talk.”
She was looking at Dad when she said it.
Dad glanced around the table again.
People were pretending not to stare.
Nobody was doing a good job.
He exhaled.
“The money went into an investment.”
I stared at him.
“What investment?”
Janet shifted uncomfortably.
Dad looked toward the ceiling for half a second.
Then finally said it.
“A property.”
“The address on the document?”
“Yes.”
“Whose property?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation was becoming a pattern.
“Technically, the LLC owns it.”
Ryan looked at the phone.
“What LLC?”
“Carter Ridge Holdings.”
I frowned.
I had never heard that name.
Valerie had.
Her face changed.
“Richard.”
He looked at her.
“You told me Carter Ridge was financed through your retirement account.”
“It was partially.”
Valerie stared at him.
“How partially?”
Dad didn’t answer.
I looked at Janet.
“What is Carter Ridge?”
She glanced at Dad.
He gave her a look I couldn’t interpret.
She answered anyway.
“A rental property.”
“One house?”
“Four units.”
Ryan gave a low whistle.
“A fourplex?”
Janet nodded.
“It was renovated after purchase.”
I tried to make sense of what I was hearing.
My father had taken money from my college account.
Used it to purchase rental property.
And somehow had my signature on the authorization.
I looked at him.
“Why?”
His eyes met mine.
“Because I thought I could turn ninety thousand into something that would support you for decades.”
The answer was almost reasonable.
That made me angrier.
“You didn’t ask me.”
“You were eighteen.”
“I was legally an adult.”
“You were a kid.”
“I was old enough to sign the document you apparently needed.”
He flinched.
Valerie inhaled sharply.
“Ethan.”
“No. I want him to answer.”
I looked directly at Dad.
“Did you sign my name?”
My mother stepped between us.
“Please.”
I looked at her.
“Was it you?”
Her face crumpled.
That was answer enough.
I felt something inside me drop.
“Mom.”
She sat slowly.
“I didn’t forge your signature.”
“Then who did?”
“We thought you had signed it.”
Dad turned sharply.
“Margaret.”
She looked at him.
“No. I’m not doing this anymore.”
His jaw tightened.
“You’re upset.”
“I’ve been upset for three years.”
The room went silent again.
Three years.
She had carried this for three years.
I sat back down.
“Tell me.”
Dad shook his head.
“We should leave.”
I looked at Mom.
“Tell me.”
She clasped her hands.
“When you graduated, your father’s company was struggling.”
Dad cut in.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“It has everything to do with it.”
His eyes flashed.
But Mom kept going.
“Richard had invested money with someone from work. More than he told me.”
“How much?”
She swallowed.
“Most of our savings.”
Dad looked away.
I remembered that summer.
Dad had been tense.
Bills piled on the counter.
Mom started buying generic everything.
They told me his hours were reduced.
Apparently that wasn’t the whole story.
“The investment failed,” Mom continued. “We were behind on the mortgage. We were close to losing the house.”
I looked at Dad.
“So you took my college money.”
“No.”
His voice was immediate.
“I borrowed it.”
Valerie laughed bitterly.
“Without telling the person it belonged to.”
“I planned to replace every dollar.”
“With what?”
“The property.”
He pointed toward Janet.
“I found a distressed building. The numbers were good. We could buy below market value, renovate it, refinance, and return Ethan’s money.”
Valerie stared at him.
“You gambled his education on another investment after the first investment nearly wiped you out.”
“It wasn’t a gamble.”
Ryan muttered, “Sure sounds like one.”
Dad ignored him.
“The property appreciated.”
“That still doesn’t explain my signature.”
Everyone went quiet.
Dad looked at Mom.
Mom looked down.
I repeated the question.
“Who signed my name?”
Dad slowly sat.
“Nobody forged it.”
Ryan shoved his phone closer.
“That signature says Ethan Carter.”
“Yes.”
“And Ethan says he didn’t sign it.”
Dad rubbed both hands over his face.
Then looked at me.
“Do you remember signing paperwork before your eighteenth birthday?”
“What paperwork?”
“For insurance. Your bank account. Graduation forms.”
I thought about it.
Dad had always handled paperwork.
There were stacks of forms that year.
I signed things where he told me to sign.
A horrible thought came over me.
“You had me sign something blank.”
Dad said nothing.
Valerie’s face hardened.
“You didn’t.”
“It wasn’t blank.”
“What was it?”
“A beneficiary authorization.”
“Did he know it authorized withdrawals?”
“He knew it involved the account.”
I stood so fast my chair scraped the floor.
“No, I didn’t.”
Dad stood too.
“You signed the page.”
“You never told me there was an account!”
Several relatives turned away.
That was the first time my voice had risen.
I forced myself to lower it.
“What did you tell me I was signing?”
Dad opened his mouth.
Mom answered.
“You told him it was paperwork for the savings account Grandma left him.”
I stared at her.
That I remembered.
My grandmother had left me around four thousand dollars.
Dad had said we needed to change something because I had turned eighteen.
I had signed three pages while eating cereal.
I barely read them.
Because he was my father.
I trusted him.
My chest hurt.
“You hid the authorization in that paperwork.”
Dad’s face showed something close to shame.
“I made a bad decision.”
“No.”
Valerie’s voice was colder than I had ever heard it.
“You made several decisions. Each one required time.”
Dad looked at her.
“You don’t know what position I was in.”
“I know exactly what position Ethan was in.”
She pointed at me.
“He turned down Westlake because you told him there was no money.”
Dad’s expression changed.
“You knew about Westlake?”
“Of course I knew.”
Valerie looked at me.
“I thought you chose not to go.”
I shook my head.
“I couldn’t afford it.”
She slowly turned toward Dad.
“You told me Ethan wanted to work for a few years before college.”
Dad looked trapped.
“I thought it would be better.”
“For whom?”
He didn’t answer.
Ryan’s phone vibrated again.
He picked it up.
The email sender was apparently someone helping him pull the records.
“Who’s sending you this?”
I asked.
“A friend of mine interns at a title company.”
Dad snapped, “You’re sharing private family information with strangers?”
Ryan looked at him in disbelief.
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
Valerie took the phone.
“What else is there?”
Ryan scrolled.
“The property purchase was seventy-two thousand down, plus closing costs.”
“What about the other eighteen thousand?”
“I’m looking.”
Janet shifted near the doorway.
“I probably shouldn’t be here.”
I looked at her.
“Please stay.”
Dad said, “Ethan.”
“She seems to know more about this than I do.”
Janet looked uncomfortable but stayed.
I pointed toward the keys.
“Why were you bringing those to my father tonight?”
She hesitated.
“He asked for a duplicate set.”
“To what?”
“One of the units.”
“Why?”
Dad interrupted.
“It’s being renovated.”
Janet looked at him.
“No, it isn’t.”
His face froze.
That was the second time that night I saw genuine panic cross his face.
Janet continued.
“Unit four has been vacant for six months.”
Valerie frowned.
“Why would Richard need keys?”
Janet looked at my father.
“I assumed he was finally showing Ethan.”
My heart stopped.
“Showing me what?”
She stared at me.
“The property.”
“Why would he show me?”
Her brow furrowed.
“Because it’s his.”
Dad closed his eyes.
I heard my own heartbeat.
“What did you say?”
Janet looked confused now.
“The beneficial ownership documents list Ethan.”
Ryan nearly dropped his phone.
Valerie turned toward Dad.
“You put it in Ethan’s name?”
Dad shook his head.
“It’s not that simple.”
Nothing was ever simple when my father was caught.
I looked at Janet.
“Am I the owner?”
“The LLC structure is complicated.”
“How complicated?”
“You are listed as the beneficial interest holder.”
Ryan leaned forward.
“Meaning?”
Janet chose her words carefully.
“Meaning the property may legally be held for Ethan’s benefit.”
Dad rubbed his forehead.
“May.”
Janet nodded.
“The operating agreement would determine control.”
“Who has the operating agreement?”
Dad answered immediately.
“My attorney.”
Ryan looked at him.
“Convenient.”
Dad glared at him.
I barely noticed.
My brain had moved on to something else.
“If the property was supposed to replace the college fund, where is the rental income?”
Dad looked at me.
“What?”
“Four units. Three years.”
“It went toward expenses.”
“All of it?”
“Taxes. Repairs. Insurance.”
Janet slowly shook her head.
Dad noticed.
“What?”
She looked reluctant.
“Richard, the units have generated positive cash flow for over two years.”
He stared at her.
“That doesn’t mean—”
“How much?”
I asked.
Janet looked at me.
“After property expenses?”
“Yes.”
“A little over three thousand per month currently.”
I did the math.
Thirty-six thousand a year.
Even if rents had been lower earlier, that was significant.
“Where did that money go?”
Dad didn’t answer.
Mom did.
“I don’t know.”
He turned toward her.
“Margaret.”
She shook her head.
“No. You told me it was paying back Ethan’s account.”
Valerie leaned forward.
“Was it?”
Dad looked genuinely cornered now.
Ryan started scrolling again.
“There should be banking records for the LLC.”
Dad reached for his coat.
“This is over.”
I stood.
“No.”
“You’re emotional.”
“I’m very calm.”
“You’ve had alcohol.”
“I had half a glass of wine.”
“I’m not discussing financial records at a restaurant.”
“You had three years to discuss them somewhere else.”
He grabbed his coat.
Mom didn’t move.
That surprised him.
“Margaret.”
She looked at him.
“I’m staying.”
His face went white.
Then his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
Something changed in his expression.
Not anger.
Fear.
He declined the call.
It rang again.
Ryan looked at him.
“Who is it?”
“Nobody.”
The third call came almost immediately.
Dad picked up.
“What?”
He listened.
His eyes moved toward me.
Then toward Valerie.
“No.”
Another pause.
“I said no.”
He ended the call.
I stared at him.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
Ryan’s phone chimed at the same moment.
He opened another email.
This time, he didn’t say anything.
He just stared.
“Ryan?”
He looked at me.
“There’s another account.”
My father went still.
“What account?”
Ryan enlarged the document.
“Carter Ridge Holdings has been transferring money every month.”
“Where?”
Ryan swallowed.
“Not to your parents.”
Dad closed his eyes.
Valerie stood beside Ryan.
“To whom?”
Ryan read the destination account.
Then he froze.
I moved closer.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward me.
The receiving account had a name attached to it.
Not my father’s.
Not my mother’s.
It belonged to someone I knew.
Someone who had been sitting at my birthday table less than ten minutes earlier.
I looked toward the empty chair near the far end.
May you like
The person who had been sitting there was gone.
And so was the blue envelope Aunt Valerie had placed beside her plate.
