The Buyer Who Did Not Exist
Chapter 03 - The Buyer Who Did Not Exist
The supposed buyer was a company called North Harbor Holdings.
It had no employees, no office, and no history. The corporation had been created forty-eight hours earlier using Emma’s stolen identity.
Adrian’s plan was larger than taking the apartment.
He intended to sell it to himself through a shell company, move the money offshore, and leave Emma with nothing.
Melissa was arrested for fraud and conspiracy, but Adrian was released on bail after claiming she had acted without his knowledge. His attorney argued that the apartment dispute was a civil matter and that the video recordings did not prove he authorized the sale.
Emma returned to a hotel under police protection.
That night, she received a message from an unknown number:
WITHDRAW YOUR STATEMENT, OR THE NEXT DOCUMENT WILL SAY YOU NEVER EXISTED.
Attached was a photograph of her passport.
Detective Bennett traced the message to a phone purchased by Daniel Price, a clerk at the county property office. Daniel had processed the fraudulent transfer.
When police questioned him, he disappeared.
Emma refused to hide.
She went through every file her father had left behind and found a sealed letter from the attorney who managed her trust. The letter stated that any sale of the apartment required not only Emma’s signature, but a verbal security phrase recorded in person.
The phrase was one only Emma and her father knew:
“Home is where the truth has a key.”
No such recording existed.
That meant the sale was legally invalid.
But before the court could freeze the property, North Harbor Holdings filed an emergency eviction request against Emma, claiming she was trespassing.
Adrian planned to use the court process to keep her away from the apartment long enough to erase the remaining evidence.
At the hearing, Emma faced him across the courtroom.
He looked calm, polished, and confident.
The judge asked North Harbor’s attorney to identify the company’s owner.
A video call appeared on the courtroom screen.
The owner introduced herself as “Emily Collins.”
Emma stared at the woman.
It was not her.
The woman wore a wig, glasses, and makeup designed to resemble Emma. She held a forged driver’s license and claimed Emma was an imposter trying to steal her property.
For a moment, even the judge looked uncertain.
Then Emma noticed something on the woman’s hand.
Her mother’s missing ring.
The same ring police had already taken into evidence.
The woman on the screen was not live.
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It was a prerecorded video.
And whoever had created it was inside the courthouse, controlling the feed in real time.
