Chapter 4 - ANNA CROSS
Anna arrived at the law office just after noon. She was forty-seven, composed, with Robert’s gray-green eyes. Brittney hated that resemblance immediately, then hated herself for noticing it.
Anna did not ask to be called family. She did not request forgiveness. She placed a thick binder on the table and said, “Your husband tried to stop this before he got too sick.”
The binder contained bank records, property filings, email chains, and recordings. Grant Mercer had created a network of companies that purchased distressed land around Millbrook. Michael supplied inside information from his work with the county planning board. Together they targeted elderly owners, pressured them into unfavorable loans, then acquired the property after default.
Brittney’s colonial home sat on twelve acres newly designated for a luxury resort corridor.
Its value was nearly seven times what Michael had told her.
Robert discovered the plan when a bank called to verify a loan he had never requested. He contacted Anna because of her forensic accounting expertise. Their investigation revealed that Michael had already used Brittney’s identity to guarantee millions in debt.
“Why didn’t Robert tell me?” Brittney asked.
Anna answered carefully. Robert was ashamed of their existence in each other’s lives. He feared telling the truth would destroy Brittney before he could protect her assets. He also hoped Michael might confess.
“He kept believing your son would stop,” Anna said. “He was wrong.”
Brittney asked about the $840,000. Anna explained it was not a gift. Robert had transferred liquid assets into a temporary protective trust because Michael’s forged power of attorney gave him access to nearly everything else. Anna had never spent a dollar. The account required Brittney’s approval to release.
Then she played a recording.
Robert’s weak voice filled the room.
He was speaking to Michael in the workshop. Robert said he knew about the forged mortgage. Michael replied that the family land would eventually be his anyway. Robert warned him that greed was turning him into a man Brittney would not recognize.
Michael’s answer was quiet and cold.
“Then don’t tell her.”
Brittney closed her eyes.
The recording continued. A second man entered—the voice of Grant Mercer. Grant threatened to expose Anna publicly and frame Robert’s transfers as embezzlement unless he signed control of the timber company to Michael.
At the end, Robert refused.
A crash followed. The recording stopped.
Brittney asked when it had been made.
Evelyn said, “The night Robert fell in the workshop.”
The fall that accelerated his decline had always been called an accident.
Anna reached across the table but stopped before touching Brittney’s hand.
“We don’t know whether he was pushed,” she said.
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Before Brittney could respond, Evelyn’s receptionist entered. Two county detectives were outside.
They had received a report accusing Brittney of stealing $840,000 from her late husband’s estate.
