Nathan stared at it.
“I never signed this.”
“You signed something,” I said.
“A loan application.”
“Did you read it?”
“I trusted her.”
His voice broke on the last word.
The door opened behind us.
Vanessa stood there.
“You have no idea what you’re looking at,” she said.
I held up the document. “This says I transferred my house.”
“It was never filed.”
“Because the trust made filing it useless.”
“I was negotiating with an attorney.”
“You had a document prepared with a forged signature.”
Vanessa’s eyes moved from me to Nathan.
“We were trying to protect the family.”
Nathan turned toward her. “You forged my mother’s name.”
“You gave me access to her papers.”
“I gave you access to the mail.”
“You left the papers in the desk.”
“You told me you needed them for the refinance.”
“I needed your cooperation.”
The words hung between them.
There it was.
Not an accident. Not confusion. Not a misguided attempt to help.
Cooperation.
Nathan stepped away from her.
“How long?”
Vanessa’s face closed.
“How long what?”
“How long have you been planning to take the house?”
She looked at me.
“Since the day we moved in.”
Nathan’s mouth opened.
I felt something inside me go completely still.
Vanessa’s voice grew faster, as though the truth had become impossible to contain.
“You had no mortgage. No other children. No reason to keep a house that large. We had the children. We needed stability. Every month you stayed in control was a month we were paying for your stubbornness.”
“I was paying for everyone,” I said.
“You had savings.”
“I paid for your vacation.”
“You offered.”
“I paid for your furniture.”
“You wanted the house to look nice.”
“I paid for your medical bills.”
“That was family.”
The word sounded poisonous in her mouth.
Nathan pressed his hands over his face.
Vanessa turned toward him.
“You knew your mother would eventually leave the house to you.”
“I knew she loved me.”
“And you were willing to wait forever?”
“I was willing to let her live.”
“You always choose her.”
Nathan lowered his hands.
“She is my mother.”
“She is the reason you are still struggling.”
“No,” he said. “You are.”
Vanessa went silent.
The sentence seemed to surprise him as much as it did her.
