Chapter 2

2

My mother-in-law had sent a three-minute voice note. I tapped it and listened.

"…Everyone saw what happened yesterday. I asked her for a simple favor, and she gave me an attitude in front of the whole family. As her mother-in-law, where is my dignity?"

"Am I the kind of person who takes advantage of people? Travis would have paid that loan back in two months. Did she really think I was going to steal from her? Instead, she treats me like a common thief."

"Sure, her parents paid the down payment, but her name is on the deed, not theirs! She married into our family, which makes her our family, and what's hers belongs to us. I just needed to use it temporarily, and she wouldn't even let me?"

"Tell me, with a daughter-in-law like this, how can I ever count on her to take care of me when I'm old?"

As soon as the recording ended, I saw over seventy replies rolling in underneath.

Aunt Clara wrote: "Don't let it get to you, Evelyn. Someone that narrow-minded isn't worth your tears."

Aunt Brenda added: "I told you from day one she was no good. Completely shortsighted."

Travis chimed in: "My sister-in-law has zero vision. Once my business takes off, she won't see a single cent of my success."

Megan commented: "Some people marry into a family just looking for handouts, but ask them to lift a finger and it's like asking for the moon."

Then came messages from distant relatives I barely even recognized.

"Young people these days have no respect for family duty."

"Caleb shouldn't have married her in the first place. Total waste."

"I still don't know what Caleb saw in her back then."

I scrolled through the entire chat history from top to bottom.

Over a hundred messages.

Not a single person defended me.

Not even Caleb.

He didn't post a single word in that chat.

I set my phone face down and sat on the edge of the bed in a daze for a long time.

Then, I dialed my mother's number.

"Mom, something happened. I need to tell you."

I explained everything that had gone down the day before.

Silence stretched over the line for what felt like an eternity.

"She wanted you to mortgage the house for a million dollars?" my mom finally asked.

"Yes."

"Your father and I sold our home to give you that down payment."

"I know, Mom."

"Did you sign anything?"

"No. I refused."

"Good," my mom said, her tone softening slightly. "A million dollars… she opens her mouth and demands that kind of money? Does she think cash grows on trees?"

"But now she's tearing me apart in the family group chat…"

"Let her run her mouth," my mom said firmly. "A few insults won't kill you. If you had signed that paper and they defaulted, your house would be gone. Your father is in his sixties and still working construction to get by. That money came from his sweat and blood. What has your mother-in-law ever given you?"

"Mom…"

"Trust me, you did the right thing. Once she cools off in a few days, it'll blow over."

I murmured an agreement and didn't say much else.

After hanging up, I lay back on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Maybe Mom was right.

Maybe things would settle down in a few days.

One month later.

I got off work early that day and arrived home around five-thirty in the afternoon.

When the elevator doors opened, three strange men were standing right outside my apartment door.

All three wore black leather jackets, and they were in the middle of a heated argument with building management.

"We don't care if she's not home right now. We'll just wait," one of them said.

"Who are you people anyway?" the property manager asked defensively.

"Debt collectors," the leader barked. "She took out a one-million-dollar mortgage on this unit, and the payment is a month overdue. We're here to take possession of the property."

I froze where I stood.

The leader spotted me and marched straight over.

"Are you Harper Cole?"

"Who… who are you?" I stammered.

"We represent your lender." He pulled a folded legal document from his jacket. "This is the mortgage agreement you signed. One million dollars, due last month. If you can pay it off right now, we'll leave. If not…"

He glanced toward the door behind me.

"We're taking the house."

I grabbed the document and looked at it with trembling hands.

Real Estate Mortgage and Loan Agreement.

Collateral: Unit 1204, Crestview Luxury Condos.

Loan Amount: $1,000,000.

In the borrower's signature line, my name was scrawled across the page.

Except it wasn't my handwriting at all.

"I never signed this."

"Whether you signed it or not, there's a notarized record on file," the man said, snatching the paper back. "Ms. Cole, you have three days to come up with the cash, and this goes away. If you don't…"

He let out a cold laugh that sent a sharp chill running down my spine.

"You know exactly what happens next."

They turned around and walked away.

I stood in front of my front door for five whole minutes, frozen stiff.

Finally, I walked inside, opened my laptop, and logged into the county land registry database.

I entered my property details and hit search.

The loading wheel spun for twenty long seconds.

Property Status: Encumbered / Mortgaged.

Lien Amount: $1,000,000.

Recording Date: December 18th.

December 18th.

Exactly three days after the baby party.

I had been stuck in company meetings from nine in the morning until six that evening on that day.

I hadn't visited a single registry office.

I hadn't signed a single piece of paper.

Yet the official government system showed that someone had used my identity to mortgage my home.

My hands shook as I dialed my mother-in-law's number.

"Evelyn, did you take out a mortgage on my house?"

The line stayed silent for two seconds.

"How did you find out?" she asked.

"Debt collectors just showed up at my front door to take the place!"

"Oh," she said flatly. "Just tell them to come back in a couple of months."

"My name is on that contract, but I never signed it!"

"Well, you refused to sign, so I had to find another way," she replied, as if stating the most obvious fact in the world.

I clutched the phone until my knuckles turned white.

"You got someone to impersonate me?"

"What do you mean, impersonate? They just signed your name for you." Her tone was completely casual. "That house is going to my grandson one day anyway. What's the big deal if I used it a little early?"

"Evelyn, that's a million dollars!"

"So what if it's a million? Travis will pay it off in two months."

"The contract stated a one-month repayment window! It's already past due!"

She paused for a second.

"Past due… well, they can just extend it a few days. I'll go talk to them…"

"Let me ask you one thing," I interrupted. "Are you going to pay this money back or not?"

"Pay what back? Why are you panicking? Travis already said…"

"Do you have any idea what kind of crime it is to forge someone's signature?"

The line went completely quiet.

"Evelyn, I'm giving you three days. You have three days to pay off that debt and clear the lien on my house."

"Where am I supposed to get a million dollars on three days' notice?"

"Then tell Travis to pay it. He's the one who spent the money, isn't he?"

"He's tight on cash right now…"

"Then tell him to sell his car! That Audi he bought for eighty grand―sell it and pay down the debt!"

"That car belongs to him!"

"Evelyn," I cut in sharply. "Three days. If you don't resolve this in three days, I'm calling the police."

"What did you say?" Her voice turned into a shrill screech. "You're going to call the cops on me?"

"Forging a signature and taking out a fraudulent mortgage is grand larceny and bank fraud."

"I am your mother-in-law!"

"Even a mother-in-law goes to prison when she breaks the law."

"Harper Cole, if you dare call the police, you can consider this marriage over! I will make Caleb divorce you immediately!"

"You'd better think carefully before you say another word."

"I don't need to think! Do you really think I won't…"

I hung up on her.

Then, I opened my phone's voice recorder app and played back the file.

From her initial "How did you find out?" to her final screech of "I will make Caleb divorce you immediately," every single word had been recorded crystal clear.

I saved the audio file to the cloud.