Chapter 4 - The Fifth Name
The person entering was my father.
A police officer stood behind his wheelchair.
Dad looked exhausted.
Robert looked terrified.
Dad saw the photograph and closed his eyes.
“You found it.”
I stared at him.
“You've seen this before?”
“No.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Dad asked the officer to give us privacy.
When the door closed, he told me the truth.
Eight years ago, our mortgage crisis hadn't been an accident.
Dad's company had borrowed money from a private investment group after a major client defaulted.
The investor had demanded collateral.
The house.
Dad believed he could repay everything.
He couldn't.
When foreclosure became imminent, I stepped in.
But someone in that investment group had tried repeatedly to prevent my refinancing.
Robert had fought them.
Eventually, the bank approved my restructuring.
The investor disappeared.
“Who was it?” I asked.
Dad looked at Robert.
Robert answered.
“Graham Vale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
It meant something to Tyler.
When we told him, his face changed.
Mason Cole worked for Graham Vale.
The graduation gift had never been about Tyler.
Tyler had been used as a legal shortcut.
If the fraudulent deed could create enough confusion over ownership, Vale could resurrect an old claim against Dad's former company and force a settlement against the property.
Mason had told Tyler something entirely different.
He said I had manipulated Dad into transferring the house.
He promised Tyler he could “restore” the property to the family.
Tyler believed him.
Or wanted to.
That distinction mattered.
Mom had signed an affidavit stating she had never knowingly consented to my ownership arrangement.
Mason intended to use it against me.
“You signed it because you wanted Tyler to have the house,” I said.
Mom cried.
“I thought I was fixing something unfair.”
“Unfair to whom?”
She couldn't answer.
For the next two days, Robert and I worked with investigators.
The fraudulent deed was flagged.
The county suspended processing.
Dad provided a sworn statement.
The notary signature was confirmed fraudulent.
Mason disappeared.
And Tyler's graduation party became the least of our problems.
Then, on the third morning, a moving truck appeared outside the house.
Tyler had hired it weeks earlier.
He had planned to move into the master suite after graduation.
I arrived while Mom stood on the driveway arguing with the movers.
Tyler was inside.
I walked through the front door.
He was standing in the living room.
Around him were dozens of cardboard boxes.
But that wasn't what had frozen him.
A process server stood in front of him.
“You Tyler Mercer?”
“Yes.”
The man handed him an envelope.
“You've been served.”
Tyler stared at me.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing yet.”
He tore open the papers.
Mason Cole had filed a civil action in Tyler's name.
Without Tyler's knowledge.
It accused me of fraud.
And Tyler was listed as the plaintiff.
“I didn't authorize this.”
“Then you'd better prove it.”
His face drained.
Mom entered behind me.
“What is happening?”
Tyler handed her the lawsuit.
She read the first page.
Then she looked at me.
“This says you're being sued for stealing the house.”
“No. It says Tyler is suing me for stealing it.”
“I didn't!” Tyler shouted.
For once, I believed him.
Then his phone rang.
Mason.
Tyler stared at the screen.
“Answer it,” I said.
He did.
Speakerphone.
Mason's voice came through.
“Tyler, don't say anything to Ethan.”
Tyler looked at me.
“Too late.”
Silence.
Then Mason laughed softly.
“You really have no idea what your brother did, do you?”
I stepped closer.
“What did I do, Mason?”
Another silence.
Then he said:
“Ask Ethan where the final $140,000 came from.”
The call ended.
Everyone looked at me.
And for the first time since the graduation party, I had no answer.
May you like
Because I knew exactly which $140,000 he meant.
And I had never told my family where I got it.
