Chapter 7: What Lauren Did Not Expect
Three weeks passed.
Ethan called the Hendersons the same night Grace told him to.
The conversation lasted an hour and forty minutes.
He did not use an attorney.
He told them what he had learned about Lauren, what she had misrepresented, and what he was prepared to do to correct it.
The Hendersons were angry.
They had every right to be.
But they listened.
By the end of the call, they had agreed to pause the legal action for thirty days while Ethan's attorneys worked with theirs to restructure the acquisition terms at a price that reflected what the Hendersons had actually wanted from the beginning.
It cost Walker Development two hundred and sixty thousand dollars in renegotiated terms.
Ethan paid it without argument.
---
Lauren Pierce — or Laura Crane, or Laura Pennick — made one mistake that people like her almost always made.
She underestimated how much the people she had hurt were willing to talk to each other.
Daniel had been in contact with Gerald's attorney for six weeks before that anniversary night.
Gerald's attorney had been quietly corresponding with a firm in Nashville that represented a developer named Whitmore, who had lost a land deal eighteen months earlier under circumstances that looked very familiar.
And Whitmore's attorney had, three months prior, filed a complaint with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission that had been sitting in a queue, waiting for corroborating evidence.
The folder Grace had given Ethan became part of that corroborating evidence.
Patricia Holt submitted it on Grace's behalf.
Daniel's attorney submitted the Raleigh documents.
Whitmore's attorney submitted the Nashville records.
On a Tuesday morning, Lauren Pierce received a formal notice of investigation from the Real Estate Commission.
Grace found out from Patricia.
"That's the beginning," Patricia said.
"Not the end.
These things take time."
"I know," Grace said.
"There's also a separate matter.
The name change, the pattern of conduct — the Commission has referred the file to the state attorney general's office for review of potential fraud charges."
"How long does that take?"
"Months.
Sometimes longer.
But it moves." Patricia paused.
"She won't be consulting on any development deals in this state while the investigation is open.
Her license is suspended pending review."
Grace looked out the window of Patricia's office at the street below.
"She came into my house," Grace said.
"She stood in my dining room and told me she knew quite a lot about me.
She wanted me to feel like I'd already lost."
"I know."
"She was wrong."
"Yes," Patricia said.
"She was."
---
Lauren called Ethan once, two weeks after the investigation notice.
Grace was in the kitchen when his phone rang.
She saw the name on the screen — L.
Pierce — and she watched Ethan look at it.
He pressed decline.
He set the phone face-down on the counter.
Then he looked at Grace.
"I'm going to block the number."
"Okay," Grace said.
He picked the phone back up and did it right there, in front of her.
She didn't say anything.
She didn't need to.
---
Lauren called Daniel next.
He answered.
"I know what you submitted to the Commission," she said.
"You have no idea what you've started."
"I think I have a pretty good idea," Daniel said.
"I can make things very difficult for your sister.
For her husband's company.
I have information about the Southgate deal that—"
"You should speak to an attorney," Daniel said.
"Before you say anything else." A pause.
"And you should know that this call is being recorded."
Silence.
"Goodbye, Ms.
Crane," Daniel said.
He ended the call.
He texted Grace one line: *She called.
It's handled.
Don't worry.*
Grace read the message and set her phone down on the nightstand.
She was lying on her side, one hand on her stomach, in the quiet of the bedroom.
The baby moved.
She smiled in the dark.
---
But the following morning, Grace's phone rang at 7 a.m.
It was Patricia.
"I need you to come in," Patricia said.
"This morning if you can."
Grace sat up.
"What happened?"
"Lauren's attorney contacted my office last night.
She's making a claim." A pause.
"She's saying that Ethan was a knowing participant in the Southgate misrepresentation.
That he was aware the Hendersons' position had been misstated and proceeded anyway."
Grace's hand tightened on the phone.
"That's not true," she said.
"I know.
But she has emails.
Emails between her and Ethan where the terms are discussed.
She's saying they prove he knew."
Grace stood up.
"I'll be there in an hour."
She was already moving toward the closet.
The emails.
She hadn't seen any emails.
Ethan hadn't mentioned emails.
May you like
She stopped in the middle of the room.
*Had he told her everything?*
