Chapter 4 - THE LOAN I NEVER APPROVED
The document had my signature.
That was the first thing Martin showed me.
INTERBRANCH COLLATERAL CONSENT.
Rachel Hawthorne Bennett.
My full legal name.
Signature beneath.
Date:
Four months earlier.
I stared at it.
“No.”
“You didn’t sign?”
“No.”
“Any electronic approval?”
“No.”
“Verbal?”
“No.”
The amount:
$680,000.
Borrower:
Caldwell Hospitality Group.
Grant’s company.
Security support:
Lisa branch assets.
Additional contingent collateral:
Rachel branch reserve subject to beneficiary consent.
That consent was mine.
Except it wasn’t.
“How much has been drawn?”
“Five hundred forty-two thousand.”
My mouth went dry.
“From my branch?”
“Not exactly.”
Martin explained.
Westbridge had not transferred my assets.
The document made my branch contingent backup security for a line of credit funded through a family investment vehicle.
If Grant defaulted, my branch could face exposure.
“And Owen’s audit?”
“Would review the transaction because his allocation sits inside your branch.”
“So they needed this cleaned up before he turns seven.”
“Yes.”
I played the recorder.
Just copy her signature.
Martin’s face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“My father hid it behind a vase.”
That sentence sounded insane even to me.
We listened.
Lisa:
“Rachel already said no.”
Grant:
“So?”
Lisa:
“Dad won’t approve without her.”
Grant:
“Just copy her signature.”
Then later:
“We only need it until Owen turns seven.”
Martin stopped playback.
“Do not share this file with anyone else yet.”
“Why?”
“Chain of custody.”
“It’s my father’s recorder.”
“Then we preserve it properly.”
I laughed bitterly.
“My sister slapped my child because he broke a vase hiding evidence that she forged my signature.”
Martin looked at me.
“That is not legally established yet.”
“I heard her.”
“You heard a recording. We authenticate.”
He was right.
May you like
I hated him for it.
Good lawyers often sound disloyal to your anger.
