Chapter 5 - WHAT THE FIFTY THOUSAND PAID FOR
Scott’s debt had begun with an investment he hid from me.
A year earlier, he and Diane purchased a failing kitchen-cabinet franchise in Greenville. They believed Scott’s sales background and Diane’s confidence were enough to run it.
They did no proper due diligence.
The franchise owed suppliers, had unresolved tax penalties and operated from a showroom with an inflated lease.
Scott invested thirty thousand dollars from our joint savings without telling me.
When that disappeared, Diane lent him fifty thousand from a home-equity line.
He signed a personal repayment agreement.
Then the franchise closed.
Scott told me our savings had declined because quarterly taxes were higher than expected.
I believed him because he had always handled the household account.
Diane demanded repayment before her adjustable interest rate increased.
Scott offered the workshop.
At first, he proposed that she receive a “temporary ownership share.” Diane wanted the entire property.
Her developer contact had already told her rezoning could multiply the land value.
The fifty-thousand-dollar price was not desperation.
It was camouflage.
If anyone later questioned the transfer, Diane planned to say the business was failing and she had rescued it from debt.
Scott would confirm that I was emotionally unstable after years of overwork and had agreed to withdraw from management.
They had already prepared evidence.
Scott collected photographs of unfinished orders and empty lumber racks during normal production cycles. Diane saved messages in which I complained about exhaustion. They intended to describe those ordinary moments as proof I could no longer operate the business.
The sale agreement included a clause terminating all employees upon closing.
Marcus had worked beside me for nine years.
Nina for six.
Four other families relied on the workshop.
Scott knew every one of them would lose employment.
He signed anyway.
When investigators asked why, he said a buyer could always rehire them.
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The buyer he expected was planning to remove the machinery within ten days.
There would have been no workshop left to return to.
