Chapter 7 - The Forged Legacy
My hands shook with rage. Stealing my monthly wire transfers was despicable, but this? This was predatory annihilation. The four-acre lot Grandma owned was worth at least 1.8 million dollars to commercial developers looking to build retail outlets along the highway.
Dad wasn't just skimming her living expenses. He was systematically stripping her of everything she owned, intending to kick her into a state-run nursing home the second the commercial buyout went through.
"Grandma," I asked, keeping my voice gentle despite the fire burning in my chest. "Did you sign any papers with Arthur last month? Did a woman come to your house with a stamp?"
Grandma pressed her fingers to her temples, thinking hard. "Arthur came over with a young lady. He told me the county was doing a property assessment for a senior citizen discount on my water bill. He told me to sign the bottom page so they wouldn't shut off the water. I couldn't find my reading glasses, Julian... I trusted him. He said it was just for the water bill."
"That bastard," I choked out, slamming the envelope onto the mahogany desk.
He had exploited her failing eyesight to forge or trick her into signing away her home. If this deed went through probate or reached the final county validation stage, she would have been legally homeless by spring.
My phone suddenly buzzed on the nightstand. The screen lit up with an incoming call from an unknown local number.
I picked it up and hit speaker. "Speak."
"Julian?" It wasn't Dad. It was Mom, her voice shrill and punctuated by ragged sobs. She sounded like she was hiding in a closet. "Julian, you have to help us. You don't understand what’s happening."
"I understand perfectly, Brenda," I replied coldly. "I'm looking at the forged quitclaim deed right now. Did you know Arthur tricked Grandma into signing away her house for ten dollars?"
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Mom gasped on the other end, but what she said next made the hairs on my arms stand up.
"Julian, please listen to me! Arthur didn't do it just for the money! He’s in deep! He borrowed four hundred thousand dollars from private lenders in Phoenix to cover his bad investments! They showed up at our house twenty minutes after you left! They broke the front window! They said if Arthur doesn't deliver the title to Evelyn’s land by Friday, they’re coming for all of us!"
