Chapter 13 - Lydia Ames
Lydia Ames agreed to speak only after hiring her own attorney.
She was thirty-four now, living in Denver and working outside law.
Maya and Ethan flew west.
Samuel stayed home.
“Airports are God’s punishment for ambition,” he said.
Lydia met them in a conference room overlooking downtown Denver.
She resembled Victoria around the eyes.
That unsettled Ethan.
Her attorney began.
“My client has concerns about professional responsibility and potential exposure.”
Maya nodded.
“We’re not offering immunity. We’re seeking facts.”
Lydia looked at Ethan.
“I’m sorry about Jonathan.”
“Did you know him?”
“Not well.”
“Did you help forge my signature?”
Her attorney immediately said, “Ethan.”
Maya gave him a sharp look.
Lydia became pale.
“I assembled the document.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Her attorney intervened.
Lydia raised a hand.
“I want to answer.”
She took a breath.
“Victoria sent me a PDF of a corporate release you had signed.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“She told me you had agreed to the trust transfer but refused to complete new paperwork because you were angry with Jonathan.”
“That was false.”
“I know that now.”
“What did she ask you to do?”
“Extract the signature image.”
Maya asked, “And place it on the beneficiary consent?”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked away.
The admission was almost anticlimactic after months of suspicion.
“Why?”
Lydia’s eyes filled.
“She was my aunt.”
“That is not an answer.”
“She helped raise me.”
“Still not an answer.”
Lydia nodded.
“She told me Jonathan’s lawyers needed a clean copy for the file.”
“Did you believe that?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
“Marcus saw it.”
Maya leaned forward.
“What did Marcus say?”
“He asked where the original signed consent was.”
“What did you say?”
“That Victoria had it.”
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then?”
“Marcus told me the file needed notarization.”
“What happened with Claire Donnelly’s stamp?”
Lydia began crying.
Her attorney put a hand on her arm.
Lydia continued.
“I took it.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
She explained that during Claire’s visit to the firm, Marcus left Lydia to organize documents.
Claire stepped away.
Her notary bag remained on a chair.
Victoria had previously told Lydia they might need a stamp impression for a corrected document.
“So you stole it.”
“For one night.”
“One night is theft.”
“Yes.”
Lydia wiped her face.
“I copied the stamp onto blank acknowledgment sheets and returned it.”
Maya asked, “Did Marcus know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Victoria?”
“Yes.”
“Did she instruct you?”
“Yes.”
“Any messages?”
Lydia nodded.
“I saved them.”
Her attorney produced printed texts.
Victoria:
I need a clean Washington acknowledgment for Ethan’s file.
Lydia:
He has to appear before a notary.
Victoria:
He already agreed. This is administrative.
Lydia:
Aunt V, that isn’t how notarization works.
Victoria:
Marcus said the file must be complete before Jonathan changes his mind.
Lydia:
Ask Marcus to handle it.
Victoria:
I’m asking family because I trust family.
Lydia had eventually replied:
Fine. One page.
Maya exhaled.
Ethan stared at the final message.
Family.
Another word used as leverage.
“Why did you leave the firm?” he asked.
Lydia looked at him.
“Because I knew what I did.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Cowardice.”
No elaborate excuse.
Just the word.
Maya asked whether Marcus personally knew the stamp had been copied.
Lydia could not say.
“He knew the notarization was irregular?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I told him Ethan wasn’t present.”
“When?”
“Before recording.”
Ethan froze.
Marcus had just claimed otherwise.
“Exactly what did you say?”
Lydia remembered.
“I said, ‘We don’t actually have Ethan’s wet signature or appearance.’”
“What did Marcus say?”
“He told me, ‘Do not create problems you are not being paid to solve.’”
Maya wrote the sentence carefully.
Ethan felt his anger settle into something colder.
Marcus had lied again.
After the interview Lydia gave a sworn declaration through counsel and agreed to respond to lawful discovery.
Outside, Ethan stood on the sidewalk.
Snow threatened over the mountains.
Maya joined him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Useful answer.”
“My father knew there were problems. Victoria instructed Lydia. Marcus knew.”
“Yes.”
“And I spent twelve years thinking Dad cut me off.”
Maya did not correct him.
The trust fight strengthened significantly after Lydia’s declaration.
But Ethan’s emotions became messier.
Jonathan had been deceived initially.
Then he discovered enough to suspect fraud.
Then he delayed action.
Ethan kept wanting one clean betrayal.
Instead he found layers.
On the flight home, Maya opened the Dawson Hale report.
“There’s something we haven’t focused on.”
“What?”
“The $3 million Ridgewell deposit.”
“What about it?”
“It went into JVC Estate Holdings.”
“Yes.”
“Then two million moved out.”
“To North Line?”
“Some.”
She showed him the tracing.
$750,000 went to Harlow-held debt.
$400,000 went to Green Ash Consulting.
$500,000 went to a private investment account.
$350,000 covered North Line payroll and expenses.
Ethan pointed to the investment account.
“Whose?”
“VAM Family Trust.”
Victoria and her brother again.
“So she used buyer deposit money personally?”
“Potentially as distribution.”
“Authorized?”
“Corporate documents will matter.”
Then Ethan noticed another payment.
$125,000.
Recipient:
S.P. LAND SERVICES.
He frowned.
“Samuel Pierce?”
Maya looked at him.
“No.”
Ethan’s heart sped up.
Samuel had kept the key for ten years.
Had he also taken money from Victoria?
He called.
Samuel answered from the cemetery.
“Everything okay?”
“What is S.P. Land Services?”
Silence.
Ethan felt cold.
“Samuel?”
The old man sighed.
“Where did you see that?”
“A payment from JVC Estate Holdings.”
“How much?”
“One hundred twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Samuel did not answer.
Ethan’s trust cracked instantly.
“Did Victoria pay you?”
“Yes.”
Maya looked sharply at him.
Ethan closed his eyes.
“For what?”
Samuel’s voice became quiet.
“The land behind the cemetery.”
“What land?”
“Mine.”
Ethan opened his eyes.
“You own land next to Carter Hall?”
“Twelve acres.”
“And Victoria bought it?”
“No.”
“What did she pay for?”
“An option.”
Ethan stared at Maya.
Samuel continued.
“Ridgewell needs my land for secondary road access.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your father told me not to mix my property with yours.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I didn’t sell.”
“But you took the money.”
“For an option that expires if their project fails.”
Ethan gripped the phone.
“So you benefit financially if Carter Hall sells.”
“Yes.”
The confession hurt.
Samuel continued quickly.
“But I never gave them access. Never told them about the tower. Never touched Jonathan’s documents.”
Ethan could barely hear beyond the number.
One hundred twenty-five thousand dollars.
The man he had trusted because he was supposedly outside Victoria’s financial reach was not outside it at all.
Samuel said:
“Ethan, I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid you’d stop trusting me.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“And how did that work?”
He ended the call.
Maya did not defend Samuel.
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She simply said:
“Now you understand why your father’s system of secrets keeps failing.”
