Chapter 2 - The Deed
I did not leave immediately.
I should have.
But there are sentences capable of making the floor feel physically unstable.
Whose name is really on this house.
I turned.
“What?”
Greg said sharply:
“Dad.”
Richard ignored him.
“Audrey.”
Eleanor grabbed Richard’s arm.
“Not tonight.”
He pulled free.
“No. Apparently tonight is when everybody finally stops pretending.”
Chloe still held one hand to her face.
The sapphire remained around her neck.
I looked at Richard.
“Whose name?”
He took a breath.
“Bennett Residential Holdings LLC.”
Silence.
I frowned.
“That’s your company.”
“One of them.”
“I know.”
What I did not understand:
Why would his company own my house?
Greg and I had lived there for five years.
I had paid half the mortgage.
At least I believed I had.
Every month I transferred $2,600 into our household account marked:
MORTGAGE / TAX / INSURANCE.
Greg contributed his share.
He handled payment to what he called:
the family note.
Richard had supposedly financed the purchase privately because Greg and I were young when we moved in.
No bank mortgage.
Better interest rate.
Family arrangement.
That was the story.
I looked at Greg.
“You said we were buying it from your parents.”
He stared at the table.
Richard’s expression changed.
“What?”
Greg said:
“Dad, stop.”
Richard stepped around the table.
“I never sold you this house.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“I bought it through Bennett Residential Holdings twelve years ago.”
Before Greg and I married.
“It’s been in the LLC ever since.”
I looked at Greg.
“What have I been paying?”
Nobody answered.
I repeated:
“What have I been paying?”
Sophie whimpered behind me.
That decided it.
Not here.
Not with children.
I looked at Richard.
“Tomorrow.”
He nodded.
“At my attorney’s office if you want.”
“Yes.”
Greg said:
“Audrey.”
“No.”
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“You can’t take the kids and disappear.”
“I’m going to my sister’s. You know where she lives.”
That shut down the custody accusation before it started.
I turned to Chloe.
“Do not contact me.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You assaulted me.”
“You assaulted me first.”
“Children saw you hit me.”
“Yes.”
That was true too.
I hated it.
I opened the door.
Sophie asked:
“Are we homeless?”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
“Grandpa said house not ours.”
I crouched.
“We have a safe place tonight.”
“Will my room be gone?”
“No one is touching your room tonight.”
I could not promise forever.
So I did not.
Noah whispered:
“Can I bring dinosaur?”
“Absolutely.”
Five minutes later I was upstairs putting pajamas, medication, school clothes, and one plastic dinosaur into backpacks.
Greg stood in the hallway.
He did not stop me.
May you like
That was the first wise decision he made that evening.
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