Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE WAS NEVER THE FIRST TARGET
I had thought Bianca wanted my house because she hated me.
The truth was worse.
She had wanted it because her first plan had failed.
The invoices traced back to a company called Briar Administrative Services.
Bianca had formed it eighteen months earlier.
She called it consulting.
Tessa called it a place where money disappeared.
Miriam would not guess.
She followed records.
Transfers from Ewald’s business had paid Bianca’s credit cards, a leased car, and deposits on a condo near downtown.
Alexander stared at the condo listing.
“Who lives there?”
Nobody answered until Tessa spoke.
“Bianca said she needed somewhere to go if the marriage ended.”
He laughed once.
It was a terrible sound.
“She bought an exit with money I guaranteed.”
Nolan had more emails.
When the loan payment came due, Ewald offered my property as the solution.
Bianca supplied photographs.
Lydia arranged the notary appointment.
Someone copied my signature.
The sale proceeds would pay the lender.
The remaining money would reimburse Bianca’s company for what she called expenses.
There was no plan for my care.
Only a budget line.
RELOCATION: MAXIMUM $1,200 MONTHLY.
I stared at it.
Alexander could not.
He walked to the window and stood with his back to us.
Miriam waited.
Then he turned.
“What do we do?”
“Stop the closing.
Preserve the records.
Respond properly to the guarantee.
Keep the allegations separate from what the documents actually establish.”
He nodded.
For the first time all week, he looked like himself at work.
Facing a problem.
Making a list.
Trying to solve it.
Then Bianca arrived at my house.
I saw her through the kitchen window.
She carried flowers.
Yellow roses.
Alexander opened the door before I could stop him.
She looked past him at me.
“Helga, I owe you an apology.”
I stayed seated.
“Which part?”
Her smile trembled.
“All of it.”
“Then start.”
She glanced at Alexander.
“Could we speak privately?”
“No,” he said.
Bianca lowered the flowers.
The softness left her face.
“You should be careful.
Mom has already spoken to someone.”
“About what?”
“Helga’s ability to manage her affairs.”
I stood.
Bianca reached into her purse and placed a paper on the table.
It was a notice of a petition seeking emergency authority over me.
May you like
At the bottom was a sentence I read twice.
Son supports intervention.
