Philip barked a laugh that came out thinner than intended. “You’re out of your mind.”
Mitchell slipped the phone into his pocket. “Three years ago,” he said, “you lost your pension chasing a private investment you never disclosed to Suzanne. The account was underwater. You were less than two weeks from foreclosure. My firm purchased the property through a discretionary trust. I have funded the taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance ever since. You remained in residence under an occupancy agreement because Wendy asked me not to humiliate you.”
Wendy stared through the windshield, blood rushing loud in her ears. She knew Mitchell had helped. She knew there had been “financial restructuring,” some murky problem he and Philip had spoken about behind closed doors. She had not known the full architecture of it. She had not known he had built a parachute under the entire house and kept it invisible because she asked him to preserve her parents’ dignity.
Philip took one step forward, then stopped. “That’s a lie.”
“County records say otherwise,” Mitchell replied. “So do the trust filings. Marcus can send copies.”
Suzanne’s face changed slowly, like panic was working its way up through layers of disbelief. “We never agreed to—”
“You signed the occupancy terms,” Mitchell said. “You did not read them carefully because you assumed there would never be consequences attached to my help.”
Cheryl clutched her diaper bag tighter. “This is insane.”
Mitchell turned his head toward the SUV. “That vehicle is leased through Lawson Development Holdings under a temporary corporate authorization. Consider that authorization revoked. I’ll have the repo filed before dinner.”
The blood drained from Cheryl’s face. “You can’t do that.”
He looked back at her. “I can. It isn’t yours.”
No one said anything for a moment. Wendy could hear Paige crying from the back seat now, thin and outraged and real, and the sound anchored her. This was not a dream. This was not one of those fantasies she used to have as a teenager where someone finally appeared and told the truth so plainly the room had no place left to hide.
This was happening.
Philip tried once more. “We are your in-laws.”