Chapter 7 - Laura Had Borrowed Money From Andrew
The truth was less scandalous than Victor feared.
Laura had borrowed $90,000 from Andrew.
Privately.
Not for herself.
For her younger sister Megan.
Megan had been leaving a financially abusive marriage.
Laura helped her secure an apartment, legal representation, childcare, and debt repayment.
She did not want Victor involved.
Why?
Because Victor and Megan already disliked each other.
Laura believed he would question every dollar.
So she borrowed from Andrew.
Andrew agreed.
After Laura became seriously ill, repayment stopped.
Andrew never demanded it.
Then Serena found old correspondence.
She contacted Andrew.
Told him Victor wanted the debt repaid quietly.
“Did you ask Victor?” I said.
Andrew’s voice sounded tired through the speaker.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t want another fight.”
There it was again.
Silence creating room for manipulation.
But something still didn’t fit.
If Serena simply wanted to repay Laura’s old debt, why disguise the money as Ethan’s therapy?
Why create fake care providers?
Why risk everything?
Victor asked her through attorneys.
Her initial answer:
Because the care trust was Laura’s money.
It wasn’t.
The trust had been funded jointly from marital assets and Laura’s insurance.
Serena’s explanation collapsed.
Then Megan joined the conversation.
She knew about the loan.
Laura had made her promise never to tell Victor.
Megan had been paying Andrew herself for years.
Small amounts.
“Wait,” Victor said. “Then Andrew was receiving money from you and Serena?”
“Yes.”
Andrew swore.
He checked old deposits.
Megan’s payments were clearly labeled.
Serena’s were not.
That meant Serena knew the debt was already being repaid.
So the “Laura repayment” story was cover.
The money moving to Red Harbor had another purpose.
The accountant found it two days later.
Each time Serena transferred money to Andrew’s company, a slightly smaller amount moved from Red Harbor to an investment partnership.
That partnership owned part of a property in Westchester.
A property Serena had been trying to purchase.
Indirectly.
Without her name appearing on the first transaction.
Victor stared at the chain.
“So she was washing Ethan’s care money through Andrew’s company to fund real estate?”
Possibly.
But we needed to know whose property.
The address belonged to an old stone house outside Bedford.
Victor recognized it.
So did Megan.
Laura had grown up there.
May you like
Her childhood home.
And before her death, she had tried to buy it back.
