Chapter 5 - The Sister's Betrayal
Aunt Linda wrung her hands together. Her usual arrogant posture was completely gone.
"You don't understand," Linda said, her voice shaking. "If that injunction goes through, the bank is going to call in the rest of the loan."
"That sounds like a personal problem, ma'am," Mr. Sterling said smoothly from the sofa.
Linda glared at him. "Who the hell are you?"
"I am the man ensuring your sister-in-law gets her thirty thousand dollars back, with interest," Sterling replied.
"We don't have it!" Linda yelled, tears finally spilling over her mascara.
"Then you will sell the commercial property," I stepped forward, crossing my arms.
"We can't!" Linda collapsed into one of the armchairs. "David took out a second mortgage on his own house just to fund the renovations."
I stared at her, absorbing this new information. "So he's completely leveraged?"
"Yes," Linda sobbed. "If you freeze Apex Holdings, he defaults on the renovations. If he defaults, he loses his house."
Grandma Hazel watched her sister-in-law with an expression of deep pity.
"Why did you do it, Linda?" Grandma asked softly. "Why lie to me about the trip?"
Linda sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
"David said you wouldn't understand," she admitted, looking at the floor. "He said you were getting old, and that you didn't need that much money sitting in a savings account."
My blood boiled. "So you decided to spend it for her?"
"He promised we would pay her back!" Linda defended herself weakly. "He said once the commercial property was rented, we would give her the money."
"And the airport?" I pressed. "Whose idea was it to abandon her there?"
Linda looked away. The silence stretched painfully in the room.
"It was his," she finally whispered. "He didn't want to deal with her asking questions about the budget during the trip. He just wanted to get rid of her for three weeks."
Mr. Sterling pulled a small digital recorder from his pocket and pressed a button. A small red light blinked off.
"Thank you for your honesty, Linda," Sterling said, slipping the recorder away. "Your confession to conspiracy to commit fraud is very helpful."
Linda’s eyes widened in horror. "You can't use that! I didn't give you permission!"
"Actually, in this state, only one party needs to consent to a recording," Sterling smiled thinly. "And I consented."
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"You tricked me!" she screamed, jumping up from the chair.
"No," I said, pointing to the door. "You tricked yourselves. Now get out of my grandmother's house."
