Chapter 13 - Jason Tries to Finish the Deal
Jason disappeared after Lauren began cooperating.
Caroline denied involvement.
Then Robert found the deadline.
A purchase option with Northstar Holdings.
If Jason could establish legal control of the property by Friday, Northstar had the right to buy it for $5.4 million.
Less than half its estimated market value.
Jason would receive a $900,000 fee.
Lauren would receive nothing.
Ethan would receive nothing.
Margaret would lose her home.
Jason had planned to steal it from all of them.
Police located him at a title office outside Providence.
He was carrying forged trust papers, Ethan’s copied identification, and a notarization stamp registered to a dead notary.
Caroline’s attorney claimed she knew nothing about the fraud.
But bank records told a different story.
Northstar had paid Jason’s company repeatedly.
Emails showed Caroline knew the transfer depended on Margaret being declared incapable of managing the trust.
Charges followed.
Fraud.
Forgery.
Conspiracy.
Jason took a deal months later and agreed to testify.
Caroline faced a separate civil case and criminal investigation.
None of it restored Ethan’s marriage.
None of it erased what Lauren had done.
But it stopped the house from becoming a transaction.
Margaret changed the locks again.
This time, she gave Ethan a new key.
He stared at it.
“I thought I didn’t live here.”
“You don’t.”
He looked confused.
She smiled faintly.
“This is not a house key.”
It opened the side workshop.
David’s old room.
Margaret said, “You can start there.”
May you like
Ethan understood.
Trust was not coming back all at once.
