father can walk in here and destroy my family?”
Dad answered from beside the sofa.
“You used your family to destroy hers.”
Trevor moved toward him, but the investigator stepped between them.
“Back up.
Now.”
Trevor obeyed, though every muscle in his face resisted it.
Riley opened the black folder.
Inside were copies of the original title, the purchase agreement, insurance records, and a series of time-stamped screenshots.
Dad had bought the SUV for me after Owen was born.
He had paid the dealership directly and made sure the title was issued in my name alone.
Because I had been recovering from a difficult delivery, he had also kept the original purchase file in his office safe.
Trevor apparently knew the title was not in our home.
He had assumed that meant no one could stop him from requesting a duplicate.
What he had not known was that Dad had asked Riley to place a notification on the vehicle record years earlier after one of his work trucks had been fraudulently retitled.
The alert did not prevent a lawful owner from requesting documents.
It simply ensured that unusual filings were checked.
At 9:12 that morning, someone had submitted a duplicate-title application bearing my name and a signature that did not match the one on the original purchase agreement.
At 9:26, a second filing attempted to add Amber as the vehicle’s new owner.
At 9:31, the transfer was frozen.
By the time Dad called Riley from his pickup, the questionable transaction was already sitting in a review queue.
Riley had only needed my confirmation that I had signed nothing.
“Why did Amber need the vehicle in her name?” the investigator asked.
Nobody answered.
He repeated the question.
Nicole broke first.
“She needed collateral.”
Amber spun toward her.
“Shut up.”
Nicole’s voice shook.
“Her real estate business is in trouble.
She owes money for advertising, office rent, and some client deposits she used to cover other expenses.
A lender said she could get a short-term loan if she had a vehicle free of liens.”
I stared at Amber.
The high-end clients, the polished photographs, the expensive dinners in my SUV—none of it had been about appearances alone.
She had been using my car to create the illusion that her business was succeeding while planning to borrow against it.
“How much?” Riley asked.
Nicole looked at the floor.
“Thirty-eight thousand dollars.”
Amber lunged for her sister’s arm, but the investigator stopped her.
“Do not touch her.”
Trevor said, “This has nothing to do with me.
Amber handled the loan.”
Amber laughed once, sharp and breathless.
“You filled out the title request.
You copied Jessica’s license.
You said she’d never fight you because she had nowhere to go.”
Trevor’s head snapped toward her.
The family unity they had used to corner me vanished in less than a minute.
Nicole began crying.
Amber accused Trevor.
Trevor claimed Amber had manipulated him.
Each new sentence exposed another part of the plan.
Amber had first asked to borrow the SUV because she needed photos for a marketing campaign.
When a lender suggested using a paid-off vehicle as collateral, she called Trevor.
Trevor knew I would refuse.
He also knew I rarely opened the locked drawer where we kept insurance statements because he had taken over paying household
