Chapter 6 - THREE DAYS LATER
By nine the next morning, Arthur was sitting at my dining table.
Beside him sat a colleague who handled housing disputes.
I sat at the head of the table.
My hair was uncovered.
Daniel stopped in the doorway.
“What is this?”
“A meeting,” I said.
Vanessa came behind him holding the financing packet.
She saw Arthur and lowered it.
“This is a family issue.”
Arthur gestured toward two chairs.
“Please sit.”
Neither did.
The notary arrived at nine fifteen.
Arthur spoke with her in the entryway.
She confirmed she had been booked to witness signatures on loan documents.
I told her I would not be signing.
She left without opening her case.
Daniel followed us back into the dining room.
“You could have told me you were backing out.”
“I never agreed.”
“You said you’d help.”
“I let you live here.”
Vanessa slapped the packet onto the table.
“This house is sitting here doing nothing while we’re drowning.”
“It’s my home.”
“And one day it’s Daniel’s.”
“No,” I said.
The word settled between us.
Arthur placed a document in front of my son.
“Your mother has revoked your financial power of attorney.
The relevant institutions are being notified.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You can’t just—”
“She can.”
Another document followed.
Formal notice concerning their occupancy, prepared for the rules that applied where we lived.
Arthur’s colleague explained it carefully.
No shouting.
No threats.
Dates, obligations, and the process if they refused to leave.
Vanessa laughed once.
“You think a haircut gets us thrown out?”
I opened my laptop.
The hallway footage played.
Daniel handing her the scissors.
Vanessa stepping into my bedroom.
My son stopped breathing loudly enough for me to notice.
Then Arthur placed the fraudulent application beside the laptop.
“The lender has flagged this transaction.
No proceeds are being released.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
He typed something.
Waited.
Typed again.
Whatever he saw drained the color from his face.
“There has to be another way.”
I watched his thumb shake against the screen.
Vanessa leaned toward him.
“What?”
He ignored her.
“Mom.
Listen to me.”
“I’m listening.”
“If that loan doesn’t close, I can’t cover the money.”
“What money?”
He looked at his wife.
For the first time since I woke to the scissors, Vanessa wasn’t smiling.
Arthur folded his hands.
“Daniel, before you answer, understand that your mother will not be signing anything today.”
May you like
My son looked at me.
Then he whispered, “I already spent some of it.”
