Chapter 10 - Diane’s Second Loan Changes The Motive
The second refinance happened after Tyler’s company recovered.
Loan balance:
$265,000.
Borrower:
Diane Whitmore.
Use of proceeds:
Investment property acquisition.
The money went toward a condo in Naples, Florida.
Diane owned it personally.
That destroyed the story that everything had been done to save Tyler.
The first transaction may have begun as desperate family rescue.
The second became personal enrichment.
Diane looked at Ava.
“I intended to repay it.”
Ava answered:
“You intended a lot of things after taking a house that wasn’t yours.”
Diane finally broke.
She admitted she knew the first deed was invalid.
Mercer never said the word “forgery,” but she understood Eleanor had not
signed it.
She told herself Sarah would eventually inherit plenty.
She told herself George had signed the family consent.
She told herself Tyler’s employees needed saving.
Every excuse made the first step easier.
Then, after Sarah became ill, Diane began to believe the house would
never matter to her sister anyway.
That was the ugliest admission.
Sarah’s illness transformed Diane’s guilt into opportunity.
George could barely look at her.
Diane whispered:
“I was afraid of losing everything.”
Ava replied:
May you like
“So you decided we could lose it instead.”
No one had a clever answer to that.
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