Chapter 4 - THE MESSAGE AT 10:43
My fingers tightened around my purse strap.
Three days earlier, Luke had asked me for copies of my property documents.
He said the bank needed them for a routine procedure.
At the time, I hadn't questioned him.
Now, standing beneath a staircase littered with my belongings, I understood that something much bigger was happening.
I turned slowly toward my husband.
He wouldn't meet my eyes.
I didn't argue.
I didn't demand an explanation.
I simply walked out.
Because suddenly, I needed to know exactly what they had done with my documents.
I drove straight to my friend Maya's apartment.
She opened the door, took one look at my swollen wrist and tear-streaked face, and pulled me inside.
For the first time that evening, someone asked whether I was okay.
I wasn't.
But I wasn't going to fall apart either.
At 10:43 that night, Luke sent me a message.
“Give Chloe the apartment keys and come apologize to my mother tomorrow.”
I read it twice.
Then I placed my phone on the kitchen table.
Less than a minute later, another message appeared.
This one came from a bank representative.
“Ms.
Hannah Ross, we need to verify your signature on a pending loan application for $2,200,000.
The property listed as collateral is your apartment in Atlanta.”
I stopped breathing.
Two million.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
My apartment.
My name.
My signature.
Except I had never applied for a loan.
And I had certainly never authorized anyone to use my property as collateral.
I picked up the phone again.
This time, my hands weren't shaking from pain.
They were shaking from the realization that my husband's family hadn't merely been planning to move Chloe into my apartment.
They had been planning to borrow millions against it.
And leave me responsible for the debt.
I looked at Maya.
“I think Luke just committed a crime.”
She leaned closer.
“What?”
I turned the screen toward her.
Her face drained of color.
“Hannah, that's over two million dollars.”
“I know.”
“Did you sign anything?”
“No.”
I stared at the message one last time.
Then I tapped the bank representative's number.
May you like
Because if Luke thought I was going to apologize while his family stole my future, he was about to discover just how badly he'd underestimated me.
