Chapter 9 - SIGNED IN MY NAME
"That's my mother's building," I said. "It's the only thing she left that still smells like her."
Nia turned the statement around. "The bank is showing a seven-hundred-and-eighty-thousand-dollar credit line. It was opened eight months ago. Your storefront was listed as collateral."
"I didn't borrow that money."
"I believe you. We need to establish how the authorization was obtained and challenge it immediately."
Laura was already on the phone asking a colleague about an emergency order. Nia showed me the withdrawals: forty thousand for design work, sixty-five thousand for private catering, a hundred and twelve thousand to a construction contractor I'd used once at the Bennett estate.
"This account wasn't in my monthly statements," I said.
"It should have been. Someone changed the delivery address. Look here."
The address was a suite at Bennett Hospitality's headquarters.
I stared at the table. I'd let Alex use my office password once to print a presentation. I'd used the same password for everything until Maddy yelled at me about it last winter.
"What?" Laura asked when she came back.
I told her.
"Don't soften that," she said. "A weak password is a security mistake. Forging authorization is someone else's decision. They're not the same."
She was right, but I still wanted to throw up.
We drove to my mother's storefront that afternoon. The bakery tenant, a man named Keith, was unloading bags of flour through the back door.
"You okay, Erin?" he asked. "Some guy in a suit came around last week. Said the building might have a new owner."
"Did he leave a card?"
Keith wiped his hands on his apron and dug in his pocket. The card read LEONARD PIKE, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, BENNETT HOSPITALITY.
Alex's mother's right-hand man.
I walked inside and touched the counter where my mother used to sell flowers. Before the bakery, she'd arranged lilies and cheap grocery-store roses for people who couldn't afford the fancy shops. She'd make mistakes with the change and put an extra stem in every wedding bouquet.
I had promised her I'd keep the building.
Outside, a black sedan rolled to the curb. Diane Bennett climbed out in pearls and a cream coat that looked incapable of getting wet.
"Erin," she said. "You're making a terrible fuss."
Laura stepped beside me. "Not the time, Diane."
"I'm talking to my daughter-in-law."
"Then you can talk to her through counsel."
Diane's smile tightened. "I know she's upset about Alexander. But there is a business arrangement she may not understand."
"A business arrangement with my forged signature?" I asked.
She glanced at the bakery windows. "You mustn't say words like that in public."
"Then tell me whose money renovated the east wing."
She looked straight at me. "Your husband's future is worth more than an old flower shop."
For a moment, none of us spoke. Keith appeared at the doorway with a tray of broken cookies and, seeing our faces, backed out again.
I almost laughed. Diane saw it and mistook it for weakness.
"You can keep the building," she said. "If you stop trying to destroy this family."
Laura touched my elbow. That meant don't negotiate on the sidewalk.
I didn't. I took Leonard's business card and handed it to her.
As Diane returned to her car, she stopped by the open window and added, "Ask your lawyer how the credit line was approved. You'll find your name on more than one document."
Then she drove away.
Back at the office, Nia found the second document.
May you like
It wasn't a loan application.
It was a corporate consent authorizing Bennett Hospitality to take control of my business if the loan went into default.
