Chapter 8 - MY MISTAKE
I broke my own rule twelve days before the baby was born.
I texted Duncan.
Directly.
Against the protection order?
The order prohibited him contacting me, but I could technically initiate through counsel? Still bad. Better not violate. Let's say I sent through co-parenting/legal channel? Yet no need.
I made my mistake by calling the development-company lender myself.
Not illegal.
Strategically stupid.
I wanted to know whether Duncan had forged my signature.
The lender’s general counsel said they could not discuss a borrower’s file without authorization.
I pushed.
“My name is on his collateral schedule.”
“We’re aware.”
“Did he submit my signature?”
“I cannot discuss.”
I lost patience.
“If there is any document bearing my consent, it is fraudulent.”
Silence.
Then:
“Thank you.”
The call ended.
I felt powerful for about ten minutes.
Then Dad’s attorney called.
“What did you do?”
“I told them the truth.”
“They were negotiating a controlled document hold.”
“So?”
“So now lender counsel notified Duncan’s counsel that you alleged fraud.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does that change?”
“He knows exactly which part of the application we’re investigating.”
And Duncan reacted.
Within four hours:
He removed himself as manager of the development LLC.
Transferred his thirty-percent membership interest into another holding company.
Moved $240,000 from a business account to pay “consulting fees.”
Requested deletion of an old cloud folder under ordinary retention policy.
Were those acts illegal?
Not necessarily individually.
Suspicious.
Preservation orders followed.
But my call accelerated his defensive moves.
The forensic team had to chase.
Dad did not yell.
That made it worse.
Naomi—my financial counsel—said:
“You wanted certainty.”
“Yes.”
“And you traded process for the feeling of action.”
“Yes.”
I cried.
Not from hormones.
Maybe partly.
“I keep doing that.”
“What?”
“Moving because I’m afraid waiting means someone else controls the outcome.”
She nodded.
“Then learn.”
I looked at her.
“That’s it?”
“What do you want? A speech?”
No.
I paid in delay.
Real consequence.
Investigators needed additional subpoenas.
The lender became more cautious about voluntary information because litigation had started.
Duncan’s lawyers accused Dad’s companies of sabotaging financing.
Some records disappeared into privilege disputes.
We lost speed.
My fault.
Not the fraud.
Not the abuse.
The delay.
I owned that.
Then something unexpected happened.
The woman Duncan planned to marry called her lawyer.
She had received $240,000 from one of Duncan’s companies two days earlier.
She had not requested it.
Description:
CONSULTING TERMINATION PAYMENT.
She had never worked for the company.
She did not spend it.
Her lawyer escrowed the money and notified investigators.
That move saved weeks.
When asked why Duncan sent it, she produced his message.
DUNCAN:
Keep this. If they freeze everything, at least we have a start.
WOMAN:
What is it?
DUNCAN:
Mine.
WOMAN:
From where?
No response.
She sent:
I’m sending it back.
DUNCAN:
Don’t.
Then:
If you leave me now, she wins.
The woman blocked him.
Good.
No redemption crown.
Just a person realizing the future she had been promised was financed by lies.
The $240,000 traced back to the same development-company account funded partly by false house reimbursements.
Now the financial investigation had movement again.
My mistake cost time.
Her decision restored some of it.
That bothered my ego.
May you like
Good.
I was learning the truth did not need me to personally carry every box.
