Chapter 10 - THE MOTHER WHO FINALLY CHOSE
My mother called at six in the morning.
“Emily, I need you to listen before you hang up.”
I nearly did anyway.
She admitted that she had helped register Northstar and approved several transfers. My father had told her the company was a temporary holding structure designed to protect Bennett Construction from creditors.
She had believed him.
At least, that was her first explanation.
“Did you know he used my signature?”
A long silence followed.
“Yes,” she finally whispered. “I knew about the loan documents.”
Something inside me hardened.
“You watched him throw me out. You knew I was being blamed for money you helped move.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
For the first time, she had no answer.
Then she revealed that the original share-transfer documents were hidden in my father’s safe, along with a handwritten ledger he had never digitized. The ledger documented payments to Northstar and instructions about how to conceal them.
She wanted to help retrieve the records.
Rachel arranged for my mother to provide a formal statement and turn over the material through the appropriate authorities. No secret break-in, no reckless confrontation—just evidence gathered in a way investigators could verify.
Before ending the call, my mother asked whether I could ever forgive her.
“I don't know,” I said honestly. “But telling the truth is the first thing you’ve done that gives us a chance.”
An hour later, Rachel received confirmation that investigators had obtained additional banking records.
One transfer was unlike the others.
It had been made from an account belonging to my grandmother’s estate, years after her death.
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And the payment recipient was not Northstar.
It was my father’s private mortgage company.
