Michael sat again.
Nora continued. “The contract was structured to make it look like a family sale. That is why the title company flagged it. The money trail made no sense.”
“So even her mother was being used,” I said.
“Yes.”
Evelyn had not known about the sale. When Michael visited her later that week, she cried for nearly ten minutes without speaking.
Then she took his hand.
“She told me you were going to lose everything,” Evelyn said. “I believed her because I knew she was desperate. I did not know she wanted to take your father’s home.”
Michael sat beside her bed.
“I am sorry.”
“You did not do this.”
“I helped.”
Evelyn squeezed his hand.
“Then help repair it.”
She gave him a key.
It was the key to a storage unit she had rented years earlier.
Inside were boxes of Lauren’s childhood belongings, old photographs, and a small envelope containing receipts. Evelyn had been sending Lauren money for years, believing it was used for the children’s needs.
The receipts showed otherwise.
Luxury purchases. Gambling debts. Payments to Stephen Voss.
That evidence completed the prosecutor’s case.
Lauren pleaded guilty to forgery, fraud, and unlawful transfer of property. Stephen Voss pleaded guilty as well. Gina Mercer received probation after cooperating fully and surrendering her notary commission.
Lauren was sentenced to several years in prison.
The house was returned to me without a lien.
Her children stayed with Michael.
He found work at a construction firm three months later. He began paying me rent, although I tried to refuse it.
“It’s not payment for the house,” he said. “It’s payment for being an adult in it.”
I accepted.
CHAPTER 4 – The Rooms We Keep
The hardest conversation happened after the court hearing.
We were sitting in the kitchen. Rain moved against the windows, and the children were upstairs doing homework.
Michael had been quiet for nearly an hour.
