Chapter 9 - Without the House
The phrase followed me all day.
Leaves without the house.
How?
The deed was in my name.
The property had been my mother's before she died.
Inheritance law kept it separate unless I deliberately converted it into marital property.
Rachel pulled the title history.
Then she went silent.
"Sarah."
I knew that tone.
"What?"
"There was a deed filed six weeks ago."
I stopped breathing.
A quitclaim deed.
From Sarah Mercer to Sarah and Ryan Mercer as joint tenants.
I had never signed it.
The signature looked real.
The notary:
Diane Mercer.
Again.
Ryan had not merely planned to borrow against my house.
He had tried to put himself on the title first.
The county recorder had accepted the filing.
Rachel immediately filed a fraud notice and petition to void the deed.
The detective requested the original submission package.
It contained a copy of my driver's license.
A copy made at our house.
I remembered Diane asking to borrow it for "insurance paperwork."
I gave it to her for five minutes.
Five minutes was enough.
Then Jenna said:
"What else did she copy?"
We searched my locked document cabinet.
Birth certificate.
Passport.
Mother's trust paperwork.
Some originals remained.
But one folder was missing.
The family trust amendment my mother signed before she died.
I called the trustee.
He confirmed someone had requested a certified copy two months earlier.
Who?
A woman identifying herself as my legal assistant.
She used my email address.
The request was sent from an IP connected to Ryan's office.
Rachel looked at me.
"Your mother's trust owns twelve percent of Mercer Development's original land parcel, doesn't it?"
I nodded.
My mother invested in Ryan's first project years ago.
I never cared about the stake.
Ryan did.
If his company collapsed, that land interest could become valuable leverage.
May you like
And suddenly I understood.
The house was not the only thing they were trying to take.
