Chapter 1 - The House That Wasn't Theirs
Nobody at the table moved.
Ryan was still gripping the back of his chair when my father repeated himself through the speaker.
“Emily, do not leave that house until my people arrive.”
Diane gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Your people?”
My father ignored her.
“Is Lily beside you?”
“Yes.”
I pulled my daughter closer.
Her fingers were wrapped tightly around my sleeve.
“Good.”
Dad’s voice remained perfectly controlled.
“Stay near the front entrance.”
Ryan finally found his voice.
“What exactly are you trying to do, Charles?”
My stomach tightened.
Ryan had always claimed he barely knew my father.
Yet he had just called him Charles without hesitation.
Dad heard it too.
“So we’re finished pretending you don’t know me.”
Ryan’s father, Thomas, stared at his son.
“What does that mean?”
Ryan looked at me instead.
“Emily, hang up the phone.”
“No.”
“You’re making this worse.”
“You threw a plate at me.”
“It hit your shoulder.”
Lily flinched.
I felt something inside me harden.
That sentence told me more about my marriage than ten years of excuses ever had.
Dad spoke again.
“Thomas Bennett, I assume you’re listening.”
Thomas leaned toward my phone.
“I am.”
“The house you’re sitting in is titled to Northstar Residential Holdings.”
Thomas went pale.
Diane frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
Dad continued.
“Northstar purchased the property eight years ago when Bennett Development defaulted on the cross-collateralized loan attached to it.”
Thomas slowly lowered himself into his chair.
Ryan said nothing.
I looked around the dining room.
The imported chandelier.
The marble fireplace.
The wine cellar Diane bragged about.
The house she had spent years telling me I was fortunate to be invited into.
None of it belonged to them.
Thomas whispered, “Northstar is yours?”
“Not mine.”
Dad paused.
“It belongs to a trust.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
That reaction frightened me more than anything else.
I looked at him.
“What trust?”
Dad answered.
“Yours, Emily.”
My throat went dry.
Diane shot to her feet.
“That is ridiculous.”
Ryan moved toward my phone.
I stepped back.
Lily immediately stepped between us.
“Don’t touch Mom.”
Ryan froze.
For one second, shame crossed his face.
Then anger replaced it.
Dad’s voice came through the speaker.
“Ryan, if you move toward my daughter again, the two security officers approaching the front door will remove you.”
The doorbell rang.
Everyone stared toward the foyer.
May you like
Then Dad added one more sentence.
“And Emily, before you go anywhere, ask Ryan why your signature appears on a document you have never seen.”
