His unraveling came quietly, calculated. “Distant relative,” he admitted finally. The real Charles died abroad, estranged; Mabel hadn’t seen him since childhood. He’d stepped in after her brother’s and nephew’s deaths, wearing the nephew’s name to “manage” her wealth—legal maneuvers, psychological nudges, and slow theft of autonomy.
Accounts were diverted, properties retitled—all under the guise of care. Focus stayed on exploitation: documents twisted, minds clouded by suggestion and subtle dosing. Charges loomed—fraud, embezzlement—as officers cataloged the long con with clinical precision.