Chapter 7 - My House on Their Paper
I stepped inside and locked the door.
Both sons remained on the porch.
For once, I wanted a wall between us.
Mark pounded once.
“Mom, let me explain.”
I opened the door again.
“Explain from there.”
Lucas folded his arms.
Mark looked between us.
“It wasn’t a mortgage.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
“It was a projected asset statement.”
“Using my house?”
“I thought Dad owned half.”
“You thought wrong.”
“It was for a bridge loan.”
“How much?”
He looked away.
“How much, Mark?”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
My stomach turned.
Lucas whistled.
“I didn’t know it was that much.”
“Don’t act innocent,” Mark snapped.
Lucas’s smile disappeared.
I looked at him.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing like that.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Lucas shoved his hands into his pockets.
“I borrowed against my trust interest.”
“What trust interest?”
“The family trust.”
I felt the blood leave my face.
“How did you know about it?”
Mark answered for him.
“Dad told us years ago.”
Dana had said Robert warned them.
But not this.
“How much did you borrow?”
Lucas muttered, “Four-fifty.”
Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Against money he did not own.
I gripped the doorframe.
“You both gambled money you hadn’t inherited.”
“It wasn’t gambling,” Mark said.
“What would you call it?”
“Planning.”
I laughed.
A cold, ugly sound.
“You planned around your father’s death.”
Mark flinched.
Lucas didn’t.
That scared me more.
“Mom,” Lucas said, “we can fix this if we work together.”
“There is no ‘we.’”
“There has to be. Northstar has claims.”
“Against you.”
“They’ll come after the estate.”
“The estate has almost nothing.”
Both men went still.
Mark stared at me.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean your father planned better than you did.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“What did he move?”
I shut the door.
The next morning, Dana called.
“Eleanor, we have a problem.”
“What now?”
“Northstar filed an emergency petition.”
“For what?”
“To freeze Robert’s personal estate.”
“But you said they couldn’t touch my assets.”
“They can’t.”
“So why are you worried?”
“Because their petition includes an affidavit.”
“From who?”
Dana’s voice turned flat.
“From Mark.”
May you like
My hand tightened around the phone.
“He’s claiming Robert transferred assets to you while mentally incompetent.”
