Chapter 5 - The Hale Son Nobody Mentioned
His name was Jonathan Hale.
Age forty-four.
William's son from a first marriage.
Mark had never heard of him.
Neither had I.
Eleanor had.
Of course.
Jonathan's mother, Rebecca, divorced William when Jonathan was six.
William remarried Eleanor.
For years, Jonathan moved between households.
At seventeen, he accused William of fraud.
No one believed him.
At nineteen, he disappeared from the family.
Eleanor later told Mark that William's first son died in a motorcycle accident.
False.
Why erase him?
Because Jonathan owned 20 percent of Hale Urban through shares inherited from his grandfather.
Eleanor could not fully control the company while Jonathan remained active.
So she negotiated.
Jonathan received money.
Left.
Signed confidentiality agreements.
Then came back years later.
Why now?
The redevelopment parcel.
Jonathan's shares gave him rights to Hale Urban's old property options.
If the option against my land could be revived, Jonathan stood to make millions.
He and Eleanor were not enemies.
They were partners.
At least temporarily.
Mark looked ill.
“My mother used me to get Emily's signature for a brother I didn't know existed?”
Eleanor corrected him.
“Half-brother.”
Mark laughed.
That was the wrong detail to emphasize.
Then my backup phone rang again.
Unknown.
Thomas nodded.
“Answer.”
I did.
The same man's voice.
“Emily.”
“Jonathan?”
Silence.
Then:
“So Thomas finally told you.”
“What do you want?”
“To keep you from making a mistake.”
“You mean opening the envelope?”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“Trusting your father.”
Thomas stiffened.
Jonathan continued:
“Ask him why Lydia changed the trust three days before she died.”
I looked at Thomas.
He went pale.
“What did Grandma change?”
He hesitated.
Jonathan said through the phone:
“Exactly.”
Then he hung up.
I stared at my father.
“Show me.”
Thomas reached into his coat.
He carried a copy.
Of course.
Lydia's final amendment did something shocking.
It removed Thomas as sole trustee.
Replacement trustees:
Thomas Reed.
And Eleanor Hale.
Jointly.
I looked at Eleanor.
She smiled for the first time since Thomas arrived.
“You see?”
My stomach turned.
Why would my grandmother put Eleanor in control?
Thomas answered quietly:
“Because she didn't.”
The signature page was forged.
Again.
Angela had suspected it.
That was why I installed the camera.
But Thomas said there was more.
The forged amendment had already been used.
Two months earlier, Eleanor authorized a $1.6 million loan against a trust-owned adjacent parcel.
Where did the money go?
Mark's company.
Mark stared.
“What?”
His failing business had been receiving money stolen from my trust without his knowledge.
He thought the funds came from his mother.
They came from me.
Then I realized something worse.
If Mark's company defaulted, the lender could potentially pursue trust collateral.
May you like
My husband wasn't just being used to steal my property.
His collapsing company had been positioned to destroy it.
