Chapter 1 - The Paperwork of Treachery
The blue and red police lights painted the white walls of my Nashville home in a sickening cadence.
Teresa Bradley’s screams echo down the driveway as the handcuffs clicked shut around her wrists. "You ungrateful brat!" she shrieked, her voice cracking as the officers forced her into the back of the cruiser. "I raised you! Everything you have is mine! I’m your mother!"
I stood by the driver's side of my truck, holding Frederick tightly against my chest. His little body trembled with fever, his small face buried into the crook of my neck. Beside me, Amy was shaking, wrapped in my heavy jacket, staring at the driveway in sheer disbelief.
Officer Davis walked over, holding the manila folder seized from my cousin Mason. Mason was pinned against the secondary police vehicle, shouting that he was just a guest and didn't know anything about what was inside.
"Mr. Bradley," Officer Davis said, his voice grave. "You need to take a look at this before we transport your mother to the precinct."
He opened the folder under the yellow beam of his flashlight.
It wasn't just the original deed to my house. Inside was a stack of pre-signed quitclaim deeds, a forged power of attorney form bearing my signature, and a set of refinancing documents from a predatory private lender.
"She wasn't just trying to stay here, Connor," Amy whispered, her voice cracking with raw emotion. "She was trying to sell the house out from under us."
Officer Davis nodded grimly. "The power of attorney document has a notary stamp dated three weeks ago. We’ll need you to come to the station after you take your son to the hospital. This isn't a family dispute anymore, Mr. Bradley. This is grand larceny, forgery, and elder/family financial fraud."
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I looked at the folder, then at Mason, who couldn't even meet my eyes.
"Take them all," I said, my voice cold as ice. "Every single person who took part in this."
