Chapter 2 - Stop the Wire
Chloe photographed every page of the crumpled document.
Then she called Marissa Cole, the real estate attorney who had handled the Mercer family trust since Chloe’s mother died.
Marissa answered from her Atlanta office.
“Chloe? Aren’t you overseas?”
“I came back early. I’m sending you something.”
She forwarded the photographs.
For several seconds, the only sound in the living room was Norman’s uneven breathing.
Susan moved toward the hallway.
“Where are you going?” Chloe asked.
“To call my son.”
“No.”
Susan turned.
“You cannot tell me what to do in Kyle’s house.”
Chloe stared at her.
“The deed is held by my family trust. This is my house.”
Heather rose from the sofa.
“Kyle said he bought it.”
“Kyle says many things.”
Marissa came back on the line.
Her voice had changed.
“Chloe, this authorization references a loan package submitted this morning. The lender scheduled a three-million-dollar wire for four o’clock.”
Chloe checked the clock.
It was 3:42.
“Can you stop it?”
“I’m calling the closing attorney now.”
“Do it.”
Marissa placed her on hold.
Norman sank onto the sofa.
Kyle had called him four days earlier and claimed Chloe had been detained in Germany during a corporate investigation.
According to Kyle, Chloe’s accounts had been frozen.
He said she needed immediate access to collateral or foreign authorities might hold her for months.
Kyle had sounded frightened.
He had even forwarded an email supposedly written by Chloe.
Dad, please trust Kyle. Sign what he brings you. I can’t explain yet.
Norman had driven from Nebraska to Georgia that same night.
When he arrived, Kyle told him the document merely allowed the family attorney to verify the value of his farm.
A notary had been waiting at the house.
“They wouldn’t let me read all of it,” Norman said. “Kyle kept saying every minute mattered.”
Chloe sat beside him.
“Why didn’t you call Marissa?”
“They took my phone.”
Chloe looked toward Heather.
Heather’s expression changed.
“We didn’t take it.”
Norman pointed toward the coffee table.
The phone receiving Kyle’s messages was his.
Heather had removed it from his coat and kept it beside her.
Marissa returned to the call.
“I reached the closing attorney. The wire is frozen pending fraud review.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
They had stopped it with minutes to spare.
But Marissa was not finished.
“There’s another problem. The lender has a second authorization.”
“What second authorization?”
“One signed by you.”
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Chloe had never seen the document.
👉 Kyle had not only deceived Norman—someone had forged Chloe’s name beside her father’s signature.
