The line went dead.
Dad stared at my phone for a long moment before calmly lifting his coffee again.
“Well,” he said, “that went worse than expected.”
“For them?”
“For everybody.”
I studied his face.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
That worried me.
Two days earlier, he’d shown up at my apartment carrying one overnight bag and a battered metal lockbox.
He’d driven nearly three hours without warning.
When I opened the door, he’d simply said,
“Natalie, I made a mistake thirty-two years ago, and I need to fix it before Vanessa finds out.”
That was all the explanation he’d offered.
The following day, we’d spent nearly six hours in attorney Margaret Hale’s office.
Dad signed document after document.
Trust amendments.
Property transfers.
Medical directives.
Paperwork involving his company shares.
I’d assumed he was simply reorganizing his estate because Vanessa and Grant had been pressuring him for money.
Now I realized it was far more serious than that.
“What did Vanessa submit?” I asked.
Dad stared toward the window.
“Probably the forged power of attorney.”
I nearly dropped my coffee mug.
“The what?”
Dad rubbed a hand across his forehead.
“Three weeks ago, I noticed money missing.”
“How much?”
“Seventy-eight thousand dollars.”
My stomach sank.
“Vanessa?”
“I suspected Grant.”
Dad explained that someone had accessed his investment account from an unfamiliar device.
Then the bank contacted him to ask whether he’d authorized Vanessa to act as his financial representative.
He hadn’t.
Instead of confronting anyone, he quietly started investigating.
What he uncovered frightened him.
Grant had massive gambling debts.
Vanessa had secretly borrowed against their house.
They owed money to private lenders.
And somewhere along the way, they’d convinced themselves that inheriting Dad’s estate would solve everything.
“So they thought you died?” I asked.
Dad slowly shook his head.
“No.”
That single word sent a chill through me.
“They didn’t think I died.”
He looked directly at me.
“They planned for me to.”
My blood ran cold.
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