Chapter 6 - Unmasking the Deal
I stopped in my tracks, my bare feet sinking silently into the hall runner. I pressed my back against the wall, holding my breath.
"You blew it, Olivia! You completely blew it!" Jason’s voice was a harsh, strangled whisper, thick with fury. "I told you we should have waited until the documents were filed! Why did you invite Greg up here before the notary stamped the papers?"
"Because Greg said he needed proof of real assets by Monday morning, you idiot!" Olivia hissed back. "He was going to pull the term sheet last Friday! If I didn't show him this lodge as collateral for the secondary personal guarantee, we would have been bankrupt by noon today!"
My blood went ice-cold. Collateral? Personal guarantee?
"Well, now he knows it’s not ours!" Jason snarled. "And what’s worse, Becca has the actual deed! Did you see the county stamp? It was recorded yesterday! She didn't just put down an earnest deposit—she closed early!"
"It doesn't matter," Olivia whispered, her tone turning chillingly pragmatic. "The power of attorney papers are already in my briefcase."
My heart stopped beating. Every muscle in my body locked up.
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked, his voice suddenly hesitant.
"Mom signed the parental authority affidavit six months ago when Dad’s estate was settled," Olivia explained, her voice steady, devoid of any conscience. "I had my paralegal draft a cross-collateralization rider that links Becca’s business LLC to the family trust. If I upload the scanned PDF with Mom’s signature to the private equity portal before the snow clears tomorrow, the automated system will register the lodge's parcel number as secondary equity for the commercial loan."
"Olivia... that’s bank fraud," Jason muttered, though his protest sounded weak, pathetic, and desperate. "If Becca finds out, she could send us both to prison."
"How will she find out?" Olivia sneered. "She doesn't know anything about commercial banking! By the time the lender audits the title in six months, your bridge loan will have funded, we’ll refinance the Denver property, and we’ll quietly release the lien on this place. She will never even know a lien existed!"
"And what if the loan defaults?" Jason asked.
"Then the bank forecloses on this mountain," Olivia said smoothly, not a single tremor of hesitation in her voice. "And Becca loses the house. Not us. She has no kids, Jason. She has no family to support. She’ll survive. We have to survive."
I stood in the dark corridor, staring blankly at the wall as the sheer magnitude of their plot hit me like an avalanche.
This wasn't just sibling jealousy. This wasn't a petty game of social media status or a spoiled sister throwing a party to save face. Olivia hadn't just broken into my home—she was actively preparing to steal my deed, forge a fraudulent lien against my property, and let the bank strip me of everything I owned to cover her husband’s failed investments.
And my mother was the key that unlocked the door.
A cold, razor-sharp clarity washed over me, completely replacing the grief and betrayal that had weighed on my chest all evening. They thought I was just the quiet, hardworking younger sister who always cleaned up the mess and gave in for the sake of 'family harmony.'
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They had no idea who they were dealing with.
I slipped my phone out of my pocket, tapped the screen, and ended the voice memo recording that had captured every single word of their conversation. Then, I turned around and silently glided toward the stairs leading up to my office.
