Chapter 3 - THE SISTER WAS NEVER THE REAL PROBLEM
Skylar hired family-law attorney Naomi Perez the next morning.
Naomi’s office overlooked downtown Miami from the twelfth floor of a building where every surface appeared designed to make panic feel organized.
Skylar placed the deed, bank records, company filings, police report, and Derek’s email across the conference table.
Naomi read silently.
“How much does Derek earn?”
“About ninety thousand a year when commissions are good.”
“Debt?”
“He said only the car loan.”
“That answer is probably false.”
Naomi ordered a credit investigation and filed emergency motions preventing Derek from placing liens or making claims against the apartment until the court reviewed the evidence.
By afternoon, the first hidden debt appeared.
Derek owed nearly two hundred thousand dollars through personal loans, credit cards, and unpaid business obligations.
Most had been accumulated during the marriage.
Several accounts listed Skylar as a co-borrower.
Her signatures had been forged.
“He used my name.”
“It appears so.”
“How did the lenders approve this?”
“Some applications were submitted electronically using copies of your identification.”
Skylar remembered Derek insisting on organizing their tax documents each year.
She remembered him photographing her driver’s license before a cruise.
She remembered every time he accused her of being controlling because she wanted to review a contract.
Naomi continued through the file.
“There’s also an application for a home-equity loan against your apartment.”
Skylar’s stomach tightened.
“It has no mortgage.”
“That makes it attractive.”
“I never signed anything.”
“The application was denied because the deed showed you acquired the property before marriage and the title company required direct confirmation.”
Derek had not succeeded.
But he had tried.
“The email mentioned a lien.”
Naomi nodded.
“Bennett Family Consulting invoiced Derek for renovation services. The company then prepared a contractor’s lien claiming unpaid work on the apartment.”
“Suzanne has never renovated anything in her life.”
“The lien was drafted but not filed.”
Skylar understood the plan.
Suzanne’s company would claim it improved the apartment.
Derek would support the claim.
They would force Skylar to pay or fight the lien in court.
If she could not, they would push for a sale.
“Why wait?” Skylar asked.
“They may have needed one more document.”
Naomi pointed toward an account authorization form.
If Suzanne gained possession of Skylar’s bank card and personal identification number, she could create transactions showing Skylar voluntarily paid Bennett Family Consulting.
The card was not about a declined payment.
It was meant to manufacture a financial relationship between Skylar and the fake company.
Derek had thrown coffee because the final step of his plan failed.
“I thought Suzanne was using him,” Skylar said.
“Maybe she was.”
“He defended her constantly. He gave her my things.”
“That does not mean she controlled him.”
Naomi turned the laptop so Skylar could see the company’s transaction history.
Money had entered Bennett Family Consulting from Skylar’s account.
It had not remained with Suzanne.
Most of it moved to an offshore betting platform and several cryptocurrency exchanges registered under Derek’s name.
Suzanne received less than ten thousand dollars.
Derek had used his sister as a front.
He encouraged her greed because it made his theft look like family generosity instead of fraud.
Suzanne believed Derek was stealing for her.
In reality, he had been stealing through her.
“She doesn’t know,” Skylar said.
“Not all of it.”
Naomi leaned back.
“That may make her useful.”
Suzanne called that evening.
Skylar nearly ignored it.
Then she remembered the shock on Suzanne’s face when she heard the amount.
She answered and recorded the call on Naomi’s advice.
“What do you want?”
Suzanne’s voice was quieter than usual.
“Derek said you’re accusing me of stealing.”
“Your company received my money.”
“He said it was his commission income.”
“Did you create Bennett Family Consulting?”
“He did the paperwork. He said I needed an LLC for the nail business.”
“Have you ever had clients?”
“Not yet.”
“Did you prepare a contractor’s lien against my apartment?”
Silence.
“Derek told me it was a backup,” Suzanne said. “He said you were planning to divorce him and leave him with nothing.”
Skylar closed her eyes.
He had been telling Suzanne a second story.
In that version, Skylar was secretly planning to abandon him.
The forged documents were protection.
The stolen money was his rightful share.
The apartment was something Skylar had unfairly kept from the marriage.
“Did you see him throw the coffee?” Suzanne asked.
“No.”
“Did he tell you he dropped it?”
“He said you threw a mug first.”
Skylar looked at the shattered white pieces still sealed inside an evidence bag.
“He lied.”
Suzanne began to cry.
“He said you were trying to have him arrested because you found out about Vanessa.”
Skylar went still.
“Who is Vanessa?”
Suzanne stopped crying.
“You don’t know?”
Another lie opened beneath the first.
Vanessa Cole was not a client, as Derek had claimed.
She was a real estate broker in Fort Lauderdale.
She and Derek had been living together part-time for eight months.
He told Vanessa he was separated and that the Edgewater apartment would soon be sold as part of the divorce.
Vanessa had already placed a deposit on a waterfront townhouse for them.
The deposit came from Skylar’s emergency account.
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Derek had not been trying to take the apartment to support his sister.
He had been trying to liquidate Skylar’s life and use the money to begin another one.
