Chapter 4 - SILAS’S BUSINESS
Silas owned three boutique restaurants and a catering company.
Or technically, he owned pieces of them.
For years, he talked like a man running an empire.
Expansion.
Locations.
Concepts.
Branding.
Then COVID-era debt.
Labor shortages.
Two bad leases.
A partnership dispute.
By the previous year, Rhodes Hospitality was in trouble.
I knew some.
Not enough.
Robert invested $100,000 personally.
Helen complained about it.
Clara called it temporary.
What I did not know:
Silas needed another $500,000 to prevent default on two commercial loans.
Traditional lenders declined.
Robert offered the house.
Except Robert did not own the house.
The trust did.
Naomi showed me the loan packet.
Board resolution.
Trustee certification.
Beneficiary consent.
My signature.
Scanned.
Attached.
Not handwritten fresh.
The image came from a home-renovation consent I signed four years earlier.
Someone copied it.
The line of credit funded:
$512,000 to Rhodes Hospitality.
$84,000 to pay Robert and Helen’s personal credit cards.
$51,000 for Clara’s household expenses.
$39,000 for trust “administration.”
Remaining funds covered loan interest and fees.
The Christmas gifts?
Probably personal money.
Maybe not.
Audit pending.
My first instinct was to believe Silas forged everything.
Naomi stopped me.
“Evidence first.”
I hated how often good lawyers say that.
“Could Robert have done it?”
“Yes.”
“Helen?”
“Yes.”
“Clara?”
“Yes.”
“Silas?”
“Yes.”
May you like
“Helpful.”
“My job is not to make your anger efficient.”
