Chapter 3
The document existed.
Rebecca found it by noon.
It was called a Durable Property Power of Attorney.
Executed six days before Mila was born.
Sienna stared at her own signature.
“That’s mine.”
Rebecca nodded.
Unlike the emergency medical directive, the property power had not automatically expired after childbirth.
It granted Gavin broad authority over certain separately held financial matters.
Banking.
Insurance.
Real-estate management.
Signing administrative instruments.
Sienna looked horrified.
“I thought this was temporary.”
“The cover letter described the situation as temporary.”
Rebecca turned the page.
“The document itself wasn’t.”
“Can he sell my property?”
“Not automatically. Powers are limited by the language and by law.”
“Can he refinance something?”
“Possibly, depending on ownership and lender requirements.”
Nico leaned forward.
“What does she own that Gavin needs?”
Sienna had three major separate assets.
A minority interest in Ferrante Commercial Holdings.
A lake house inherited from her mother.
And a fifty-percent interest in a legitimate warehouse company called Southline Storage.
Southline immediately stood out.
Gavin had managed its finances for four years.
Not because Nico appointed him.
Because Sienna trusted her husband.
Rebecca asked:
“What closes Monday?”
Sienna looked at her father.
“I don’t know.”
Nico called Southline’s controller.
The answer came within twenty minutes.
A refinancing.
$8.6 million.
Sienna went still.
“For what?”
The controller sounded confused.
“To retire the existing line and fund the expansion.”
“What expansion?”
Silence.
“Sienna, Gavin said you approved it.”
“I didn’t.”
The controller became very careful.
“There is a signed owner consent in the file.”
Rebecca took the call.
“Send nothing to us casually. Preserve everything. We’ll send a formal instruction.”
The consent arrived through counsel shortly afterward.
It carried Sienna’s name.
Signed by:
Gavin Cole, attorney-in-fact for Sienna Ferrante.
Not a forged signature.
Something potentially worse.
He had openly signed her name using an old power of attorney she had forgotten existed.
The consent authorized Southline to pledge one of its Chicago warehouse properties as collateral for the refinance.
Sienna read the address.
“That building is profitable.”
Daniel Mercer, the forensic accountant Rebecca called in, nodded.
“Very.”
“What needs eight million dollars?”
Daniel began tracing the loan package.
Part of the funds would refinance legitimate Southline debt.
Roughly $5 million would not.
It was scheduled to move immediately after closing to a related company called Cole Meridian Development.
Sienna stared.
“Gavin’s company.”
“Yes.”
Nico’s expression changed.
Gavin had been preparing to borrow against his wife’s warehouse business and transfer millions into his own development company.
Monday mattered because once the refinance funded, getting the money back would become far harder.
Rebecca pointed at the power of attorney.
“He didn’t need Sienna unconscious.”
May you like
“No,” Daniel said.
“He needed her not paying attention.”
