Chương 7
“There’s something else.”
Charlotte felt almost angry at the phrase itself.
“Of course there is.”
Hailey looked down.
“Evan said Brandon wasn’t the only person Curtis lent money to through that company.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Hailey.”
“He thinks Brandon may not have invested in a company at all.”
Charlotte did not move.
Hailey continued.
“He thinks Curtis was lending people their own money back and calling it bridge financing.”
The sentence took a second to settle.
Charlotte pictured Brandon at the washing machine, insisting he had wanted one thing that worked.
“What does Evan have that makes him think that?”
“Bank transfers.”
“Whose?”
“His.”
Charlotte stared at her.
“Evan invested too.”
Hailey nodded.
“How much?”
“Twenty-five thousand.”
“And you just found out?”
“Four days ago.”
The bitterness in Hailey’s voice sounded old already.
Charlotte opened the front door.
“Send me the lawyer’s name.”
“And tomorrow, I want whatever Evan has.”
Hailey looked wary.
“He may not give it to you.”
“Then he can explain why.”
For the first time that night, Hailey smiled without amusement.
“That sounds like you.”
Charlotte closed the door after her and leaned against it.
The house was finally quiet.
Not peaceful.
Just quiet.
She checked the lock twice, then walked down the hallway.
Skylar was sitting on her bed with the empty pancake container beside her and Charlotte’s phone in her lap.
“Did everybody leave?”
“Yes.”
“Dad too?”
“For tonight.”
Skylar handed over the phone.
“Your work called.”
Charlotte looked at the missed call.
Her supervisor had left a voicemail.
She put the phone face down without listening.
Skylar watched her.
“Are we losing the house?”
Charlotte felt the question in her chest.
She sat beside her daughter.
“I don’t know.”
Skylar’s eyes widened slightly, because adults almost never admitted that.
Charlotte took her hand.
“But tomorrow I’m going to find out exactly what happened.”
Skylar nodded.
“Okay.”
She leaned against Charlotte’s shoulder.
After a moment she said, “The pancakes were really good.”
Charlotte rested her cheek against her daughter’s hair.
“I’m glad.”
“They forgot the orange juice.”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
“Of course they did.”
Skylar laughed softly.
Charlotte stayed there until the laughter faded and her daughter’s breathing slowed.
On the nightstand, her phone lit up with a new message from Hailey.
It contained Marisol Vega’s number and, beneath it, a photograph of a bank transfer Evan had apparently just sent her.
Charlotte enlarged the image.
Brandon’s name was nowhere on it.
Curtis Vane’s was.
So was a company name Charlotte had not seen on any of the documents in her safe.
She stared at the date.
The transfer had been made three days before Brandon claimed he first met Curtis.
Charlotte read the date again because her mind kept trying to move it.
It refused.
Three days before Brandon said he had first met Curtis, twenty-five thousand dollars had moved from Evan’s account into a company called Inland Venture Holdings.
The next morning, Charlotte woke before her alarm and lay still for several seconds, listening to Skylar breathe through the wall.
She had slept badly and dreamed nothing she could remember.
Her phone showed six missed notifications, three work emails, one message from Brandon, and no call from anyone she actually wanted to hear from.
Brandon’s message said, I know you’re furious, but please don’t contact Curtis until we talk.
Charlotte stared at it, then typed, Why did Evan transfer money to Curtis before you met him?
The typing bubble appeared almost immediately.
It disappeared.
It appeared again.
Then nothing came.
Charlotte got out of bed.
She made coffee, burned the first piece of toast, and stood barefoot at the kitchen counter eating the second one while reading the documents from the safe.
In daylight they looked less threatening and more bureaucratic, which somehow made them worse.
There were dates, initials, fee schedules, legal descriptions, and references to amendments that Charlotte did not possess.
She made a list on the back of an old grocery flyer.
Original loan.
Amendment.
Notary.
Curtis.
Inland Venture Holdings.
Evan.
She added, Brandon lying about timeline.
Then she crossed out lying and wrote, inconsistent timeline.
She did not know why the distinction mattered.
Maybe because she wanted to be accurate.
Maybe because some part of her still resisted turning her husband into a stranger before she had all the facts.
Skylar shuffled into the kitchen wearing the same pajama pants and a sweatshirt.
“Is Dad coming back today?”
Charlotte put the pen down.
“I don’t know yet.”
Skylar opened the refrigerator.
“We have no milk.”
“We have almond milk.”
“That’s not milk.”
“It has milk in the name.”
“So does milk chocolate.”
Charlotte looked at her.
Skylar looked back.
For one second, they both smiled.
Then Skylar took out the almond milk anyway.
Charlotte poured cereal into a bowl for her and checked the time.
“I may need you to stay with Mrs. Alvarez after school.”
“Why?”
“I have appointments.”
“About the house?”
“Yes.”
Skylar stirred the cereal.
“Do I have to tell her?”
“No.”
“What if she asks?”
“You can say it’s family stuff.”
Skylar nodded.
Then she said, “Grandma says saying family stuff means something bad happened.”
Charlotte rubbed her forehead.
“Grandma says a lot of things.”
Skylar watched her.
“Are you mad at Grandma forever?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer seemed to satisfy her more than a false promise would have.
At eight fifteen, Charlotte called Marisol Vega.
The attorney’s assistant answered and said Ms. Vega was in court until late morning.
Charlotte gave her name and began to explain.
The assistant interrupted gently.
“Is there a foreclosure sale date?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you received a notice at the property?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
“Any recorded notice?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.”
The woman’s voice changed slightly, becoming more focused.
“Do you have copies of the signed documents?”
“Yes.”
“Keep the originals if you have them.”
“I think these are originals.”
May you like
“Do not write on them.”
Charlotte looked at the grocery flyer, relieved she had resisted marking the pages.
