The story begins when the narrator receives a phone call while standing in a Whole Foods parking lot.

The caller, Patricia Williams from the county recorder’s office, asks whether she owns property at 4782 Ridgeline Road. That address is not just real estate — it is her mountain cabin, a place she rebuilt with her own hands and planned to share with her fiancé, Alex.

Patricia informs her that a deed transfer application was filed the previous day to sell the cabin for $890,000. However, the signature on the new deed does not match the one on the original 2019 document. It is not a slight variation — it appears to be a clear forgery. When she asks who submitted the paperwork, Patricia says it was her father, Richardson Chin, who claimed to have power of attorney. The narrator is stunned because she never granted him power of attorney.

The recorder’s office freezes the transaction and advises her to hire an attorney immediately. She calls her father. He answers warmly, saying he is at Bella Vista — a casino resort he has long disguised as a “conference venue.” He cheerfully tells her that the cabin sale will close soon and that the buyers are excited.

She tells him she never authorized the sale and that the deed has been flagged as fraudulent. At first he dismisses it as a clerical mistake. But when she presses him about gambling debt, he eventually admits he owes approximately $340,000. He argues that selling the cabin would clear his debt and allow him to “start fresh,” accusing her of being selfish about a property she “barely uses.” She refuses and tells him she is contacting the police.