Chapter 4 - THE BRIDGE LOAN
Clara had not been calling Alex only because she was afraid.
She had been trying to warn him.
Rachel Sloan, Carter Development’s outside counsel, arrived the next morning with files Clara had emailed three days before her death.
Subject:
URGENT — DO NOT LET DEREK SEE THIS.
Alex opened the attachment.
Bridge loan.
$2.8 million.
Borrower:
Carter Easton Hospitality LLC.
Managing member:
Derek Carter.
Guarantor:
Alex Carter.
Alex stared.
“I never signed this.”
Rachel nodded.
The guarantee carried his electronic signature.
A perfect copy.
Source metadata suggested it came from an earlier legitimate financing package.
Not enough yet to prove who pasted it.
Then another page.
Collateral support letter.
Carter Development expected receivable.
Amount:
$4.1 million.
Except the receivable did not exist.
At least not in Carter Development’s books.
Alex looked at Rachel.
“What was Derek funding?”
A boutique hotel redevelopment.
Derek had invested heavily.
Costs doubled.
Partner withdrew.
Construction lender stopped advances.
Bridge lender demanded stronger guarantees.
Derek supplied Alex.
Without asking.
Then Clara found the guarantee while reconciling family-office mail.
Why was Clara reviewing mail?
Because Alex had asked her months earlier to organize personal guarantee notices he kept losing.
May you like
The irony was brutal.
Clara had found the one guarantee he never made.
