Chapter 2 - The Deed
No one moved.
The only sound in the dining room was the soft crackle of the fireplace.
I stared at Charles. "What did you just say?"
Diane snatched the deed from his hand.
"That's impossible."
"Read the owner line," Charles said.
Her eyes dropped to the page.
The color left her face.
EMILY MORGAN BENNETT, BENEFICIARY OF THE MORGAN FAMILY TRUST.
My maiden name.
I looked from the paper to Charles. "I've never seen this."
"Your father did."
That hit harder than the slap.
My dad had died nine years earlier. I knew he once helped Charles save Bennett Development, but nobody had explained how.
Charles sat across from me.
"Your father loaned the company two-point-eight million dollars. When I couldn't repay him on time, he took security in this property and fifty-one percent of the holding company. He put both into a trust for you."
Ryan shot to his feet.
"You told me this place was mine someday."
"I told you nothing of the kind."
Diane slapped the deed onto the table. "Then why have we lived here for twelve years?"
Charles looked at her.
"Because Emily's father allowed it. And because after he died, I was trustee until Emily turned thirty-five."
I was thirty-five three weeks ago.
My stomach tightened.
Charles pulled out a second document.
"The trust transferred automatically on your birthday."
Ryan looked at me as though I had stolen something from him.
"You knew about this?"
"I didn't even know the trust existed."
"Liar."
My burned hand shook.
Charles slammed his palm on the table.
"Enough."
Then he reached into the envelope again.
"The house is not the reason I came home early."
He placed three bank statements beside the deed.
Each one carried my name.
May you like
Each one showed loans I had never taken.
Together they totaled six hundred and forty thousand dollars.
