Chapter 4 - WHAT NATHAN STOLEAt eight the next morning, Theodore Sinclair sat inside a conference room on the seventh floor of Hartford Industrial Supply.
Margaret sat beside him.
Across from them were two attorneys, a compliance officer named Daniel Reeves, and a woman from corporate security.
Nobody smiled.
A thick folder rested in the center of the table.
Daniel folded his hands.
“Before we begin, I want to make something clear. Hartford is cooperating with law enforcement.”
Margaret’s stomach tightened.
“Law enforcement?”
“There is an ongoing investigation.”
Theodore leaned forward.
“Into my son?”
“Among others.”
“Among others?”
Daniel opened the folder.
The first document was a personal financial guarantee.
Theodore recognized his full legal name.
The signature looked almost perfect.
Almost.
But Theodore knew he had never signed it.
Margaret’s signature appeared on the next page.
She stared at it.
Nathan had practiced her handwriting.
That knowledge felt more intimate than theft.
“He forged these,” she whispered.
Daniel nodded.
“That is our working assumption.”
The documents supported financing for a private real-estate investment company.
Bluegrass Residential Partners.
Theodore had never heard of it.
The total debt exceeded $1.8 million.
“What was the money used for?” Theodore asked.
“Property acquisitions. Renovations. Short-term rentals. Private loans.”
Margaret thought of Nathan’s story about renovations.
Perhaps all good lies were built from pieces of truth.
Daniel slid another document forward.
One property address stood out immediately.
Caroline Mercer’s house.
Margaret stared.
“He bought her home?”
“Through the partnership.”
“With money borrowed against our names?”
“Yes.”
Margaret looked away.
She could barely process the cruelty.
Nathan had helped provide a beautiful home for his mistress while his wife and children struggled to keep the electricity connected.
Theodore remained unnervingly calm.
“What does Hartford have to do with this?”
Daniel exchanged a glance with the attorney.
“Nathan used company relationships to attract investors.”
“Was that illegal?”
“Not by itself.”
“But?”
“He represented several investments as Hartford-backed opportunities.”
Theodore cursed under his breath.
Daniel continued.
“There are also irregularities involving vendor rebates and consulting payments.”
Margaret asked, “How much money?”
“We’re still determining that.”
“Estimate.”
“Possibly more than three million dollars.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Theodore stared at the table.
“Why hasn’t he been arrested?”
“Because the investigation is larger than Nathan.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“We believe someone above him may have benefited.”
“So you kept him employed?”
“We suspended him last week.”
Margaret suddenly remembered Nathan telling Lily he was fixing a big mistake.
“When did he know you were investigating?”
“Officially?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Last Thursday.”
“Unofficially?”
“We believe he suspected months ago.”
Margaret’s mind moved backward.
Nine months.
That was when he left his family.
Eight months.
The house sold.
Maybe Nathan had not left only for Caroline.
Maybe he had been preparing for something.
“What happened to the money from his family home?” Margaret asked.
Daniel looked surprised.
“What family home?”
Margaret explained.
Daniel typed into his laptop.
Then his face changed.
“When was it sold?”
She gave the date.
He wrote it down.
“That transaction wasn’t in our file.”
Theodore leaned forward.
“Why does that matter?”
“Because two days after the closing, Nathan made a capital contribution to Bluegrass Residential Partners.”
“How much?”
Daniel checked.
“Two hundred thirty-eight thousand dollars.”
Elise’s money.
Almost all of it.
Margaret felt anger rise inside her unlike anything she had experienced before.
“That was his children’s home.”
Nobody responded.
There was nothing to say.
After the meeting, Margaret and Theodore returned to the apartment.
Elise listened silently while they explained.
She did not cry.
That worried Margaret.
Sometimes a person crossed a point where tears became too expensive.
“So the money is gone,” Elise said.
“Not necessarily,” Theodore replied. “The attorneys believe some assets can be frozen.”
Elise laughed softly.
“Frozen.”
“Elise—”
“I sold my wedding ring last month.”
Margaret stared.
“What?”
“For Ethan’s school trip.”
She looked embarrassed.
“He was selected for a statewide science competition. I didn’t want him to withdraw.”
Margaret turned away.
Her own son had taken more than $200,000 from this woman.
And Elise had sold her wedding ring so his child could ride a bus to Louisville.
Theodore’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“Nathan.”
Margaret stood.
“Answer it.”
Theodore pressed speaker.
“Hello.”
Nathan’s voice came immediately.
“Why are you in Lexington?”
No greeting.
No surprise.
Just accusation.
Theodore looked at Margaret.
“We came to visit our grandchildren.”
“You had no right to interfere.”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
Theodore remained calm.
“They’re our family.”
“This is between Elise and me.”
“No,” Theodore said. “You made it everyone’s business when you forged our signatures.”
Silence.
Complete silence.
Then Nathan spoke.
“You don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“I understand one million eight hundred forty thousand dollars.”
Nathan exhaled.
“Dad—”
“And I understand you took the proceeds from your children’s home.”
“That money was mine too.”
Margaret grabbed the phone.
“Nathan.”
Another silence.
“Mom.”
“How could you?”
“You’re hearing one side.”
“I saw you.”
“What?”
“At Caroline’s house.”
Nathan said nothing.
Margaret continued.
“I saw the boy.”
Nathan’s voice changed.
“Leave Caroline out of this.”
“You abandoned Lily.”
“I did not abandon anyone.”
“You saw your daughter once in nine months.”
“You don’t know what Elise did.”
Margaret looked at Elise.
“What did she do?”
Nathan hesitated.
Then he said, “She made living with her impossible.”
Elise closed her eyes.
Margaret asked, “Did she make you forge our signatures?”
“Mom—”
“Did she make you steal the house money?”
“It was an investment.”
“Did she make you lie about your job?”
“You are simplifying something you don’t understand.”
Margaret’s voice trembled.
“No, Nathan. I am finally understanding.”
Nathan breathed heavily.
“I was trying to fix things.”
“With Caroline?”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“You have a child with her.”
The phone went silent again.
Elise stared toward the window.
Nathan finally said, “Caleb is my son.”
The confirmation felt terrible despite being expected.
“How old?”
“Six.”
Elise flinched.
Seventeen years of marriage.
Seven years of betrayal.
Margaret whispered, “Does Elise know?”
“She knows now.”
“What about Ethan and Lily?”
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“They don’t need every adult detail.”
Ethan stepped into the room.
“Yes, we do.”
Everyone turned.
He had heard.
Nathan went silent.
Ethan approached the phone.
“You want to know what I need?”
“Ethan—”
“I needed you at my basketball game.”
“Elise told me—”
“No. Mom didn’t tell you not to come.”
Nathan hesitated.
Ethan continued.
“I needed you when Lily cried because kids at school made Father’s Day cards.”
“Son—”
“Don’t call me that.”
Elise covered her mouth.
Ethan’s eyes filled but he refused to cry.
“You live twelve minutes away.”
Nathan whispered, “It’s complicated.”
“No. It’s twelve minutes.”
Then Ethan ended the call.
The apartment remained silent.
Ethan stood rigid.
Margaret reached for him.
He backed away.
“I’m fine.”
He was not fine.
He walked into the bedroom and slammed the door.
That afternoon, Elise received an email.
Her bank account had been frozen.
She stared at the notification in disbelief.
“What happened?”
Theodore looked at the screen.
It was not connected to Hartford.
It was a legal hold.
A creditor.
Bluegrass Residential Partners.
Elise’s name appeared as a co-guarantor on one loan.
“No,” she whispered.
She had never signed anything.
Theodore immediately called Daniel.
Within an hour, another truth emerged.
Nathan had forged Elise’s signature too.
Not once.
Four times.
Total exposure: $612,000.
Elise sank onto the sofa.
“I can’t pay that.”
“You won’t,” Theodore said.
“How do you know?”
“Because we fight it.”
“They’ll take everything.”
“What everything?”
Elise laughed bitterly.
“That’s the point.”
Margaret sat beside her.
Then someone knocked.
Three hard knocks.
Theodore opened the door.
A woman stood outside.
Dark hair.
Expensive coat.
Tired eyes.
Margaret recognized her immediately.
Caroline Mercer.
Nathan’s other woman.
Behind her stood six-year-old Caleb.
Caroline looked past Theodore toward Elise.
“I need to speak to you.”
Elise stood.
“Why?”
Caroline’s face crumpled.
“Because Nathan lied to me too.”
May you like
She looked toward the little boy.
“And because he disappeared this morning.”
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