Chapter 1 - The Second Application
Sophia remained standing in the center of the dining room.
The same place where her father had struck her four days earlier.
The same table was still pushed slightly out of position from where her hip had hit it.
No one had moved the chair she knocked over.
Her mother sat beside the kitchen doorway with a tissue crushed between both hands.
George stood near the window, his shoulders rigid.
Emily remained on the couch with one leg crossed over the other.
She looked nervous.
She did not look surprised.
Sophia placed the bank representative on speakerphone.
“Please repeat what you told me.”
A woman named Angela Ruiz answered.
“The first business-loan application was submitted using your name, Social Security number, and employment information.”
“The listed cosigner was George Bennett.”
“The second application was submitted eleven days later.”
“That application named Emily Bennett as the primary borrower.”
“It also listed your newly purchased apartment as proposed collateral.”
Sophia stared at her sister.
“You used my apartment.”
Emily uncrossed her legs.
“I did not know Dad had already submitted something.”
“That does not answer me.”
“I needed funding.”
“For your master’s degree?”
Emily looked toward George.
He answered for her.
“For her future.”
Angela continued through the phone.
“Ms. Bennett, the second application included a copy of your property purchase agreement.”
“It also included a signed authorization allowing the lender to place a secondary lien on the apartment.”
“I never signed that.”
“We suspected the signature might not be valid.”
“The application also listed an email address that does not belong to the address on your existing account.”
Sophia gripped the phone.
“What address?”
Angela read it aloud.
The username contained Sophia’s first name and birth year.
The recovery email belonged to Emily.
Linda began crying harder.
“Emily.”
“What have you done?”
Emily stood.
“Do not act like you did not know.”
Linda stopped crying.
Sophia turned toward her mother.
“What does she mean?”
Linda shook her head immediately.
“I did not know about the second loan.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“She knew Dad needed your information.”
“She gave him the folder from the filing cabinet.”
George crossed the room.
“Enough.”
Sophia stepped away from him.
“Do not come near me.”
For one brief second, he looked ready to strike her again.
Then he noticed the phone on speaker.
The bank representative was still listening.
His hand dropped.
Sophia spoke into the phone.
“Angela, I want every application frozen.”
“I want copies of every document.”
“And I want to report identity theft.”
George’s face darkened.
“You will do no such thing.”
Sophia looked at him.
“You used my name to borrow money.”
“I was protecting this family.”
“You were stealing from me.”
“I raised you.”
“I fed you.”
“I paid for your education.”
“You attended a state university on a scholarship,” Emily said.
The words came quietly.
George turned toward her.
Emily looked as though she regretted speaking.
Sophia did not.
She remembered every extra shift.
Every packed lunch.
Every night she drove home exhausted while her father told relatives he still supported her.
“You did not buy my apartment,” Sophia said.
“You did not build my credit.”
“You did not save my down payment.”
“You do not own any part of my life.”
George pointed toward the front door.
“Then leave.”
Sophia picked up her purse.
“I already did.”
Before ending the call, Angela spoke again.
“There is one more issue.”
Sophia stopped.
“What issue?”
“The lender received an appraisal request this morning.”
“Someone is trying to complete the lien before you formally dispute the signature.”
“Who requested it?”
Angela hesitated.
May you like
“The appraiser was instructed to meet the property owner tomorrow at nine.”
“The contact name is Linda Bennett.”
