$4.5 million.
Proposed guarantors:
Daniel Lawson
and
Rebecca Bennett Lawson
I stopped breathing.
“I didn’t sign this.”
“I know.”
At the bottom was an electronic signature.
My name.
Not my handwriting.
But my name.
Rachel continued.
“The application claims you have a pending inheritance in excess of fifteen million dollars.”
My mouth went dry.
Daniel knew.
“He knew about the money.”
“Yes.”
“But I never told him.”
“Then we need to figure out how.”
She scrolled further.
“There is also a representation that you intended to invest part of the inheritance in Lawson Strategic Solutions once the trust cleared.”
“I never said that.”
“I know.”
“How much?”
“Five million.”
I laughed.
I couldn’t help it.
The whole thing was so absurd.
“He threw me out because I was dead weight while telling lenders I was about to give him five million dollars?”
Rachel looked at me.
“Apparently.”
Then something hit me.
“The ring.”
“What?”
“Lauren’s ring.”
I thought about the size of the diamond.
About Daniel’s failing company.
About the loan application.
“Where did he get the money?”
Rachel’s expression changed.
“We’re going to find out.”
Part Five — How He Found Out
The answer came from the least dramatic source imaginable.
Our doorbell camera.
Rachel asked Gloria to collect anything important from the house.
Gloria called that evening.
“Rebecca, your husband changed the garage code.”
