Chapter 6 - The Unraveling Scandal
Though the criminal charges regarding the forty-eight thousand dollars were settled by the emergency second mortgage, my parents soon discovered that actions have ripples that cannot be recalled.
My father’s attempt to blame Arthur Pendelton for his business account freeze backfired horribly.
When Dad’s commercial bank reviewed his accounts during the second mortgage application, they flagged the fraudulent leukemia affidavit my mother had forged. Under federal banking regulations, the bank was legally required to report the attempted fraud to the Credit Reporting Bureau.
Within two weeks, my father’s business credit rating plummeted from a pristine 780 to a abysmal 420.
On a rainy Tuesday afternoon in November, I was sitting in the university cafeteria eating lunch with my classmate Maya when Aunt Linda walked in carrying two cups of coffee.
“Nora,” Linda said, sitting down beside me with a weary sigh. “I thought you should know what’s happening at your parents' house.”
“Linda,” I said cautiously. “I told you I don't want to hear about them.”
“I know, honey,” Linda said gently, laying her hand over mine. “But you need to protect yourself. Your father’s general contracting business went into voluntary receivership yesterday. His major suppliers cancelled his line of credit because of the bank fraud flag.”
I paused, setting my sandwich down. “Receivership?”
“He’s bankrupt, Nora,” Linda revealed grimly. “They had to put the family house up for an emergency short-sale to cover the second mortgage and his business debts. They’re moving into a two-bedroom rented apartment on the east side next month.”
I sat in silence, processing the news. The grand four-bedroom suburban house where I had spent my childhood—the house where my mother hosted arrogant dinner parties while belittling my dreams—was gone.
“And Caleb?” I asked softly.
Linda let out a bitter laugh. “Caleb had to take a job delivering pizzas and working the night shift at a convenience store to pay for his bus pass. The 'online trading guru' he gave thirty thousand dollars to was arrested by the FBI last week for running an international Ponzi scheme. Caleb isn't getting a single dime back.”
Maya looked at me with wide eyes, but I simply closed my eyes and took a deep, slow breath.
May you like
There was no joy in hearing about their ruin. But there was a profound, undeniable sense of poetic justice.
They had tried to burn my future to build Caleb’s castle on sand. Now, the sand had washed away, leaving them standing in the rain of their own choices.
