Chapter 5 - The Signature That Wasn’t His
Franklin’s calm nearly broke.
“How much?”
David placed a blurred financial summary on the coffee table.
“One point eight million dollars.”
Amber sat down hard.
Brandon’s eyes moved rapidly.
Catherine remained still.
“The lender believed Brandon had authority to act for Reeves Property Group,” David explained.
Franklin looked at his son.
“You forged my signature.”
“No.”
“Then explain it.”
Brandon pointed at Amber.
“She handled the paperwork.”
Amber rose again.
“You told me he approved it.”
“I said he would approve it.”
“You gave me the signature file.”
Franklin’s voice dropped.
“What signature file?”
Neither answered.
David did.
“A digital image of your signature was attached to the loan package.”
Franklin remembered signing a birthday card for Amber’s mother.
She had asked him to use a black fountain pen because it looked “more elegant.”
The card disappeared before the party.
Now he understood why.
“You scanned it.”
Amber’s face tightened.
“It was supposed to be temporary.”
“One point eight million dollars is not temporary.”
Brandon moved closer.
“We invested it.”
“In what?”
“A development.”
“Whose development?”
Brandon said nothing.
Catherine finally spoke.
“The Cypress Harbor project.”
Franklin looked at her.
The name was familiar.
A luxury condominium development promoted by Amber’s brother, Cole.
Franklin had rejected an invitation to invest after discovering the land had unresolved flood-zone restrictions.
“You put my house behind Cole’s project?”
Brandon raised both hands.
“It was going to triple.”
“The project was suspended six months ago.”
“We’re appealing.”
David closed the loan summary.
“The lender is preparing foreclosure action.”
Franklin felt the room shift beneath him.
The sale to Catherine had exposed the lien before it could destroy the company.
Without the sale, Franklin might have learned about it only when foreclosure papers arrived.
Brandon stepped closer.
“Dad, listen. We can fix this.”
Franklin looked at his torn shirt.
His split lip.
The son who had called him old, confused and useless.
“You assaulted me because you thought you owned the house you had already risked losing.”
Brandon’s anger returned.
“I was protecting what should be mine.”
Franklin’s expression hardened.
“That sentence is why nothing here will ever be yours.”
Amber began crying.
Not softly.
Not from shame.
From panic.
“My name isn’t on the loan.”
David looked at her.
“It is on the communications.”
Her tears stopped.
Then Franklin’s phone vibrated again.
A message appeared from the company’s security director.
May you like
Cole had been seen entering Franklin’s office downtown.
👉 While Brandon argued in the living room, Amber’s brother was searching Franklin’s company for the original deed.
