Chapter 14 - The West Bridge Folder
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My heart hammered against my ribs as Dad reached out with trembling fingers and took the folder from Eleanor.
“May I open it?” Dad asked softly.
Eleanor nodded. “It belongs to your family, Tom. It always did.”
Dad untied the string and opened the folder on the desk. I stepped up beside him, leaning over his shoulder to read the yellowed documents inside.
The first page was an architectural site plan for the original 1996 Westbridge development—a grand proposal for luxury townhouses and a commercial plaza. At the bottom of the page was the official partnership ledger listing the primary financial backers.
My eyes scanned down the list of corporate investors until they hit a line near the bottom:
Margaret Bennett — Personal Investment Capital: $60,000.00.
I gasped. “Mom invested sixty thousand dollars with Julian’s father?”
Dad stared at the page, his face growing deathly pale. “Sixty thousand dollars... That was the exact amount of the inheritance Margaret received when her parents sold their farm in 1995.”
“Did you know about this, Dad?” I asked gently.
“No,” Dad whispered, his voice cracking with intense emotion. “She told me she placed that inheritance into a long-term certificate of deposit for your college trust fund. She swore to me the money was completely safe.”
Eleanor stepped closer, her expression filled with profound sympathy.
“Richard was desperate for capital in the winter of 1995, Tom,” Eleanor explained softly. “He was facing bankruptcy before the project even broke ground. He went to everyone he knew.”
“Including my wife,” Dad said, his fist clenching tightly on the edge of the desk.
I reached deeper into the folder and pulled out a smaller piece of paper that had been clipped to the back of the ledger.
May you like
It was a handwritten letter, written on personal stationery in light blue ink. I recognized the graceful cursive script instantly.
It was my mother’s handwriting.
