“How did you discover this?”
“A foreclosure notice arrived last month because they stopped making the payments. Dad took it and said it was a clerical mistake, but I took a picture of it first.”
Liam explained that Richard had asked to store business files in the downstairs bedroom while his company’s office was supposedly being renovated. Liam had agreed because he trusted his grandfather.
Instead, Richard had turned the room into a private office.
One evening, Liam overheard Richard and David arguing inside it.
“Grandpa said the house had to be sold before you checked the county records,” Liam said. “Dad warned him that you’d discover the forged transfer. Grandpa said you trusted the family too much to investigate.”
After they left, Liam searched the desk and found the notebook.
A small safe was hidden inside the closet. Months earlier, he had watched Richard enter the combination—the date of Helen’s birthday.
Inside were bank records, emails, copies of the forged deed, and text messages discussing the loan.
Liam scanned the documents at the college library and saved them on a flash drive.
Then he confronted his dad.
“Dad told me Grandpa would fix everything,” he said. “The next day, Aunt Chloe arrived with suitcases. She claimed she needed somewhere to stay for a few days, but she and Grandpa searched my room whenever I left.”
“So you moved out.”
“I took the notebook and the drive first.”
“Why didn’t you call me or the police?”
“I was going to. But I didn’t know whether copying Grandpa’s files could get me in trouble. I made an appointment with a legal-aid attorney at school, but the first available meeting was next week.”
His eyes dropped to the floor.
“And I thought you might blame me. You spent your inheritance on that house so I could have a future.”
I took his hands.
“You did not lose the house. They stole it from us.”
“There’s more,” he said. “A gray sedan has followed me from campus three times. Yesterday it followed me to work. It only left after I pulled into the police station parking lot.”
Before I could respond, three slow knocks sounded at the door.
Liam went pale.
“Liam,” David called from the hallway. “Open the door.”
I held the flash drive tightly in my fist.
“How did you find this address?” I called out.
David hesitated.
“Chloe called after you left. My father admitted he had hired a private investigator to find Liam.”
“The man in the gray car?”
“I knew Dad had hired someone. I didn’t know the guy had been following Liam for days or scaring him.”
“Why are you here?”
“To explain before my father gets here.”
I opened the door but left the security chain fastened.
David looked terrified and exhausted.
“I didn’t forge your signature,” he said.
“But you knew about it.”
“I found out after Dad recorded the transfer. He promised it was temporary. He said the business would bounce back, the loan would be repaid, and the property would be transferred back before you ever noticed.”
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