Chapter 6 - The Loan
The private loan was for fifty-two thousand dollars.
Dileia had signed as managing member of Caldwell Residential Holdings.
Someone had also signed my name beneath OWNER CONSENT.
Patricia read the document three times.
“This is not a recorded mortgage,” she said. “At least not yet.”
“Yet?”
“The lender may try to record something if payments stop.”
My stomach twisted.
“I didn’t borrow this money.”
“I know.”
“Who sent the email?”
“No name.”
The lender was a company called Red Birch Capital.
Patricia called their attorney while I sat beside her.
Within twenty minutes, we learned the loan had funded eleven days earlier.
The money went to Caldwell Residential Holdings.
Two days later, forty-eight thousand dollars left that account.
“Where did it go?” I asked.
The attorney would not say without formal process.
Then my phone lit up with Dileia’s name.
I answered on speaker.
“You’re trying to destroy me,” she said.
“You borrowed against my address.”
“I had a plan.”
“You forged my name.”
“You don’t understand how close I was.”
“To what?”
She went quiet.
I heard a car door shut on her end.
“Dileia?”
“Drop the police report.”
“No.”
“If you push this, Mom and Dad lose everything.”
Patricia’s eyes snapped to mine.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Dileia’s breathing sharpened.
“I’m telling you to stop.”
“What did you do?”
She hung up.
I called Dad immediately.
No answer.
Mom answered on the fourth ring.
Her voice sounded small.
“Renata, your father is at the bank.”
“Why?”
May you like
A pause.
Then she whispered, “Because there’s a loan against our house too.”
