Chapter 6 - THE HALF-MILLION-DOLLAR TRAPThe next morning, an attorney arrived at the house.
She introduced herself as Evelyn Hart.
I didn't trust her.
Not after everything.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
She placed a folder on the table.
“Because your father requested that I establish the Taylor Hayes Family Trust.”
“I never authorized it.”
“You weren't required to.”
“Why?”
“Because the trust was initially funded with assets already associated with your identity.”
My stomach tightened.
“Meaning?”
She opened the file.
Bank accounts.
Property.
Investment portfolios.
All tied to my name.
None of which I owned.
“How much?”
“Approximately $1.2 million.”
My father looked at the floor.
I stared at him.
“You told me eighty-seven thousand.”
“I didn't know about the rest.”
“You're telling me over a million dollars exists in my name and I knew nothing?”
Evelyn nodded.
“That is correct.”
I turned toward the stranger.
“Who are you?”
He finally gave me his name.
“Daniel Mercer.”
“Are you with Northbridge?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I used to be.”
That answer was somehow worse.
Daniel opened another file.
“Northbridge created financial shells using employees and their families.”
“Why?”
“To hide money.”
“And my name?”
“Your father used you because you were a minor.”
I looked at Dad.
“You put me into this.”
He looked broken.
“I thought it was temporary.”
“You always say that.”
I picked up the trust document.
At the bottom was a clause.
Beneficiary may not access assets until identity verification is completed and all associated investigations are resolved.
I looked at Evelyn.
“So I'm trapped.”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what am I?”
She hesitated.
“A legal shield.”
Daniel nodded.
“Someone is trying to move stolen money through your identity.”
“And if they succeed?”
“You become legally responsible for it.”
My blood ran cold.
I could lose everything.
My apartment.
My job.
My freedom.
My entire life.
“Why didn't they do this three years ago?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because you disappeared.”
I stared.
“They couldn't reach you.”
“So they forged letters.”
“Yes.”
“They copied my identity.”
“Yes.”
“They waited until I came back.”
“Yes.”
“But why did Dad call me?”
Daniel looked at my father.
“He didn't.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“The call that brought you home wasn't made by your father.”
Dad looked at him.
“What are you talking about?”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
He displayed the call records.
The number on my phone had been spoofed.
My father's phone had been somewhere else.
Dad's phone records showed no outgoing call.
I stared.
“So someone pretended to be Dad.”
Daniel nodded.
“They wanted you here.”
I looked around the house.
“Who?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Instead he showed me one last image.
A security camera still.
A person standing outside my apartment three nights earlier.
Wearing a baseball cap.
Holding an envelope.
I zoomed in.
My heart stopped.
The scar beside the eyebrow.
Maya.
“She was watching me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel whispered,
“She wasn't watching you.”
He turned the image around.
On the back was a second photograph.
Me.
Standing beside another person.
Someone I hadn't seen in years.
My brother, Jake.
May you like
And underneath it:
TARGET GROUP REUNIFICATION COMPLETE.
