“Are you sitting down?” Tex asked in a concerned drawl.
“I am,” Bobbie agreed, but sidled closer to Buck. She had a feeling she was going to need his support for whatever Tex was going to tell her next.
“Okay,” he huffed. “Here it is in a nutshell. The family home and the bank account your parents left behind? It doesn’t belong to your brothers. It belongs to you.”
CHAPTER 26
When it lookedlike Bobbie was too shocked to speak, Buck took the lead.
“What do you mean, she owns the house?” He didn’t doubt that the money was long gone.
Tex didn’t hesitate. “Well, I dug deeply into the duo as you requested,” he drawled, but with an edge. “Which included all their financials; i.e. looking up the deed to the home property. What I expected to find was a property deep in liens. What I didn’t expect to find was that Bobbie, or Roberta Follster is the sole owner of said abode, and that it’s completely unencumbered because without her signature, they couldn’t borrow on it, no matter what paperwork they’d manipulated.”
“But…but…” Bobbie came out of her stupor, sputtering. “That can’t be. The part about me owning it, I mean. When I needed a loan, my brother Drew had to cosign. Not only for the boat, but later on, for the catering business. If I owned the house, wouldn’t I have been able to get those loans on my own, using the property as collateral?”
“No,” Tex informed her bluntly. “At that first juncture, when you got your boat loan, you were just shy of eighteen, and Drew had power of attorney over you. Your bank would have seen thatyou owned the house, but they still needed someone of age as a co-signee.”
“Seriously?” Bobbie looked shocked, and Buck’s arm went around her shoulders in support.
“Just as I said,” Tex informed her. “When your parents left, you were young, and therefore not of legal age. You needed someone who could advocate for you; sign documents and such in case you…got sick, or wanted to go to college.”
Right.Like that had worked out.
“Your parents gave Drew, the oldest, power of attorney to make sure things went smoothly until you were eighteen and able to take over.”
“But I never did,” Bobbie groaned. “Take over, I mean.”
“Right. That’s because right before Drew ‘magnanimously’ cosigned on that first boat loan, he slipped in a bullshit document—one he had legally drawn up—that said he’d be in charge of the entire estate not just until you reached your majority, but until you put in writing that you werereadyto take over as primary.”
“But… But…” Bobbie was clearly having trouble digesting this.
Damn.The prick had never told Bobbie.
Buck had never wanted to inflict bodily harm on anyone as much as he did on the pair right now.
Tex’s voice grew gentle. “Yeah. You actually signed that document giving him all the power, Bobbie. I’ve seen a copy, and it’s yourlegalsignature. And of course he never told you that there was anything that would eventually need to be reversed.”
“I… They…,” Bobbie made a feral sound in the back of her throat. “There were a lot of papers back then. Drew would put them in front of me and tell me where to sign my name. I had no idea what I was doing. I thought it was all about legal stuff to do with my parents leaving, and then buying my boat.”
“Well, it was and it wasn’t,” Tex told her. “Youdidsign the documents regarding wardship and the like. And those loan papers? Drew’s signature, as well as yours, went on them. But I hate to tell you, you also extended his power of attorney until you revoked it. Which you haven’t. Legally, he, to this day, still holds the reins.”
“So the same thing happened with my business? I could have taken out that loan on my own if I’d known to sever Drew’s hold over me?”
“That’s correct,” Tex told her. “And it also answers for why they wanted to scare any smart suiters away. Meaning Buck. They were afraid if things got serious, someone outside their sphere might start helping you with your finances, and uncover what they’d done. In the same regard, they couldn’t let you go to college, because the admissions office might have tripped over the same thing.”
“Holy shit,” Bobbie breathed. “Just when I think they couldn’t have screwed me over any harder…”
Tex went on. “I’m sorry, Bobbie, but since we can’t undo what’s been done, maybe we shouldn’t linger on the past right now. I’ve started the ball rolling on your behalf, and have already hired an attorney I know to draw up papers that put you back in charge of yourself. Which means that very soon you’ll have decisions to make. Like what you’ll do with the house, and whether or not you’ll allow your brothers to keep living there. That’s if they don’t go away to prison for a long time, considering whatelseI found.”
Bobbie’s face went from devastated to hardened in a flash. “Tell me,” she demanded.
“Can I intervene for a moment?” Chief Ildavorg asked. “I have a feeling the next thing you reveal might be a whopper, so I’d like to apprise Buck of what was found on his property this morning.”
Buck sucked in a breath. “I’m listening.”
“We found several five-gallon containers of gasoline placed in the woods around your house. We believe that if you hadn’t made noise and stopped whichever brother was on site, he would have set your place on fire with the hopes of killing you.”
“Son of a…” Buck had no words, but Bobbie reached for his hand and squeezed it, looking dismayed.
