Chapter 4 - THE LIE INSIDE OUR MORTGAGE
The next morning, Rowan texted me.
CAN WE TALK LIKE ADULTS?
I stared at the message while feeding Leo.
Then replied.
YES. SEND ME THE COMPLETE LOAN PACKAGE FROM OUR MORTGAGE REFINANCE.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Returned.
WHY?
I typed:
BECAUSE I’M AN ADULT.
He called immediately.
I answered.
“Good morning.”
“What are you doing?”
“Feeding your son.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m reviewing our finances.”
“We’ve never had money problems.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“You’re searching for reasons to be angry.”
“No. I already have one.”
“Phoebe.”
“Send the documents.”
“You signed them.”
“Then it should be easy.”
Silence.
My pulse changed.
“Rowan.”
“They’re in storage.”
“Digital copies exist.”
“I’m at work.”
“It’s Sunday.”
“I’m helping Mom.”
“With what?”
“Why does everything need to be cross-examined?”
“It doesn’t.”
I adjusted Leo against my shoulder.
“Only the things you lie about.”
He hung up.
Two hours later, I found the documents myself.
The mortgage portal still held archived copies.
Dad watched my face as I opened them.
“What?”
“Income verification.”
“What about it?”
“My income is wrong.”
“Lower?”
“Higher.”
“How much higher?”
“Almost double.”
Dad frowned.
“Why?”
I kept reading.
Then my stomach turned.
Because the refinance application included consulting revenue I had never earned.
Payments supposedly issued to me from a company called Westbridge Analysis Group.
I searched it.
Inactive.
Dissolved eighteen months earlier.
But the refinance had been approved nine months ago.
“Someone falsified my income.”
Dad sat down slowly.
“Did Rowan prepare the application?”
“His friend Marcus handled the brokerage.”
“The same Marcus from his office?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know him?”
“Barely.”
My phone rang.
Rowan.
I answered immediately.
“You falsified my income.”
Silence.
Then, “What are you talking about?”
“The refinance.”
“You signed it.”
“I signed electronically after you told me the terms hadn’t changed.”
“You should’ve read it.”
I went cold.
Dad looked at me.
He heard the sentence through the speaker.
I lowered my voice.
“Say that again.”
“I said you should have read what you signed.”
“So you knew.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You just did.”
“No, I said—”
“You submitted income I didn’t earn.”
“Marcus handled it.”
“Did you give Marcus my information?”
“Phoebe, everyone rounds numbers on those forms.”
“Not by ninety thousand dollars.”
“That’s not—”
“And Westbridge didn’t exist.”
He stopped talking.
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Not proof.
But knowledge.
“You knew the company name.”
“No.”
“I didn’t tell you it was Westbridge.”
Another silence.
Dad’s expression sharpened.
Rowan breathed into the phone.
“Listen to me.”
“I am.”
“You are making this bigger than it is.”
“Fraud usually gets bigger once people examine it.”
“Nobody committed fraud.”
“Then send me everything.”
“I’m not letting you destroy our family because you’re angry about one bad weekend.”
“One bad weekend?”
“My mother turned sixty.”
“Our son was born.”
“You keep repeating that.”
“Because somehow you keep forgetting.”
He exhaled.
“Mom was right about this.”
“About what?”
“You.”
I almost laughed.
“What about me?”
“You always have to be the victim.”
Dad’s hand clenched on the table.
I held up one finger.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“The victim usually doesn’t have to forge financial records.”
“I didn’t forge anything.”
“Then you’ll have no problem explaining it to my attorney.”
His voice changed.
“Attorney?”
“Yes.”
“For divorce?”
“For everything.”
“Phoebe, don’t be stupid.”
I looked at Leo.
“Too late.”
“What does that mean?”
“I married you.”
I ended the call.
Dad stared at me.
“That was cruel.”
“I learned from Mom.”
He almost smiled.
Then his phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“I asked one of my compliance attorneys to look at RMI.”
“Dad.”
“I didn’t access anything private.”
“What did they find?”
He handed me the phone.
RMI Consulting had received payments not only from Rowan.
It had also received vendor payments from Mercer & Lowe Development, Rowan’s employer.
Dad spoke quietly.
“Your husband may not just be hiding money from you.”
May you like
I stared at the screen.
“He may be hiding it from his company.”
