Chapter 5 - The Divorce Nobody Understood
Christopher finally told the truth.
Six years earlier, when Alison was pregnant, he had discovered that someone was using shell companies to purchase distressed properties in Milwaukee.
One of those companies had targeted Alison's apartment.
The people behind it weren't ordinary investors.
They specialized in finding vulnerable homeowners.
They created debt.
They manipulated records.
They pressured owners into signing documents.
Then they resold the properties.
Christopher had accidentally discovered their operation while working for a financial services company.
When he refused to cooperate, threats began.
At first they were anonymous.
Then they became personal.
A photograph of Alison leaving work.
A photograph of Christopher's car.
A message containing their unborn baby's due date.
Christopher panicked.
He believed divorce would separate Alison from the danger.
He made himself look like the villain.
He left.
Alison never understood.
She thought he had abandoned her.
She had hated him for years.
Now she realized the divorce had been his desperate attempt to protect her.
But that didn't make the years of silence disappear.
“You should have told me,” she said.
“I was afraid.”
“I deserved the truth.”
“Yes.”
Abigail watched from the couch.
She didn't understand all of it.
But she understood that the adults were finally admitting things they had hidden.
Then Daniel arrived with an emergency court order.
“We have good news.”
Alison looked up.
“The property transfer has been frozen.”
She almost cried with relief.
“And the bad news?”
Daniel hesitated.
“The buyer filed a claim saying you agreed to sell.”
“Who is the buyer?”
Daniel placed a document on the table.
Northbridge Holdings.
Gregory's company.
“But Gregory isn't the listed buyer,” Alison said.
“No.”
“Then who is?”
Daniel turned the page.
Alison's heart stopped.
Evelyn Voss.
Gregory's mother.
Catherine whispered:
“She owns the company?”
“Not officially,” Daniel said.
“But she controls it.”
Suddenly the pieces connected.
Gregory was the middleman.
Evelyn was the money.
The fake documents.
The surveillance.
The custody plan.
The buyer.
Everything pointed to one family.
Then Daniel revealed something worse.
“There's a hearing tomorrow.”
“What hearing?”
“The court wants to determine whether your property is subject to a disputed transfer.”
Alison stared.
“Can they take my apartment?”
“Not immediately.”
“But if the forged paperwork is believed?”
“We'll fight it.”
“What if they believe Gregory?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Then we need proof.”
That night, Alison returned to the hotel.
She found Abigail asleep beside Catherine.
Christopher sat by the window.
He looked exhausted.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered.
Alison sat beside him.
“I believe you.”
He looked at her.
“For the first time in years.”
She nodded.
“But believing you doesn't erase everything.”
“I know.”
Before he could say more, Abigail woke.
“Mom?”
Alison turned.
“What's wrong?”
“Gregory called me once.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Alison's heart stopped.
“Where?”
“Before we got on the bus.”
“What did he say?”
“He said if I told you the truth, someone would get hurt.”
“Who?”
Abigail shook her head.
“He wouldn't tell me.”
Then she reached under her pillow.
She pulled out a small folded piece of paper.
“I took this from his desk.”
Alison opened it.
It was a handwritten address.
And beneath it:
Locker 88.
Marcus arrived twenty minutes later.
They traced the address.
It belonged to an old train station.
Locker 88 was still active.
Inside they found a second black book.
This one was different.
It contained names of people who had supposedly sold properties to Northbridge Holdings.
But every name was marked with a date.
Some had a red X.
Marcus studied the list.
“These people didn't sell voluntarily.”
“How do you know?”
“Because several of them are dead.”
Alison's blood ran cold.
Then Marcus turned the final page.
There was a list of future targets.
Three names.
The first:
Alison Reed.
The second:
Catherine Reed.
The third:
Christopher Reed.
Alison stared.
“Why all of us?”
Marcus looked at the final note.
Because of the sentence written underneath.
The family knows too much.
Then another page slid loose.
A bank transfer.
$600,000.
Recipient:
GREGORY VOSS.
Date:
Three days before Gregory first met Alison.
Alison couldn't breathe.
“He didn't meet me by accident.”
“No,” Marcus said.
“He targeted you.”
For eight months, Alison had believed she had found love.
May you like
Now she realized Gregory had found her.
And the next morning, they were going to court.
