Chapter 6 - DANA WAS NOT THE MASTERMIND
Everyone wanted Dana to be the mastermind.
She looked the part.
Manipulative.
Composed.
Able to cry on command.
Reality was less satisfying.
The deed scheme began with Colton.
Not Dana.
His renovation company was drowning.
He owed subcontractors.
Payroll taxes.
Private lenders.
He went to Enzo, whom he knew through city contracting.
Enzo suggested using family property as temporary collateral.
“Your mother owns the house free and clear,” he said in a recorded meeting later reconstructed through text messages. “Put it into an LLC. Borrow against it. Pay it back when contracts clear.”
Colton said Margaret would never agree.
Enzo gave him Victor Shaw’s number.
The notary.
Shaw specialized in “paper cleanup.”
Dana entered later.
She took over because Colton lost his nerve.
She forged communications from Margaret.
Arranged the signing packet.
Moved money through her LLC.
Then pushed harder when the debt became impossible to hide.
Dana was cruel.
But Colton opened the door.
That mattered.
Casey sat with Margaret when Sloan explained the evidence.
Margaret did not cry.
She simply asked:
“Did my son forge my house away?”
Sloan answered carefully.
“The evidence suggests he participated in the fraudulent transfer.”
Margaret nodded.
Then looked out the window.
“Casey?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want you to save him.”
Casey felt tears rise.
“I know.”
“No.”
Margaret turned.
“I mean it. Don’t become his excuse.”
That sentence changed Casey too.
For years she had treated Colton’s mistakes as things to manage.
Law school fees.
Debt.
Job references.
His first divorce scare.
His business problems.
She had called it family.
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Maybe she had helped teach him that consequences were temporary until Casey arrived.
Not this time.
