Chapter 5
Michael and I reviewed every payment I had made to Dad.
I wanted one simple answer: how had he persuaded himself that borrowing money from me gave him a claim to my house?
The records did not give me one. They showed how often I had believed him.
I found transfers for emergency plumbing, a lender’s deadline, a medical bill Susan later told me insurance had covered, and the fifty thousand for a house they had already sold.
Michael did not tell me every payment could be recovered. Some were gifts. Some were old. For others, Dad had made promises in writing that we could document.
“We’ll deal with the villa first,” he said. “Then we’ll decide what claims are worth bringing.”
I appreciated that he did not offer me an easy victory.
The county had paused review of the new deed after receiving notice of the dispute. An investigator took statements from me, Olivia, David, Marisol, and eventually Susan. The notary’s camera image showed Susan at the appointment.
She wore a dark wig.
When Elena showed me the still image, I recognized the coat beneath it. I had given Susan that coat for Christmas.
I called her after the investigator interviewed her. She did not answer.
The next day, Dad appeared at the villa gate while I was speaking to the security technician. The technician stayed nearby as I went outside.
“I want to speak with my daughter,” Dad said.
“I’m listening.”
“Your mother is frightened. Investigators came to the house.”
“She can tell them the truth.”
He shook his head.
“She did what I asked. I told her you had agreed.”
“Then you lied to her too.”
“I raised you. I paid for your schooling before the Navy took over. I spent my life making sure you had a chance.”
“You did,” I said. “I remember that. It doesn’t make this deed yours.”
His face tightened. I had not denied our good years, and for a moment he seemed uncertain what to do with my answer.
“I needed the money,” he said.
“What money?”
He looked down the drive.
“I invested with someone. The returns stopped. I borrowed to cover the gap.”
“Did you use the fifty thousand?”
“Yes.”
“The family house was never in danger?”
“We’d sold it. Susan and I were renting while we looked for another place. I meant to pay you back before you learned.”
I thought of James’s funeral, my father’s arm around my shoulders, his voice telling me the family home might be lost.
“You asked me the week I packed up James’s clothes.”
“I know,” he said.
For the first time, he sounded ashamed. I wished it changed what he had done.
“How was giving my villa to Olivia meant to help you?”
“The person I owe believed I controlled it. He offered to buy it. When I couldn’t complete the sale, I thought if Olivia moved in, I could buy time to find another way.”
“You told her it was hers.”
“I thought she’d let me handle the sale if she had it.”
“You used her family too.”
Dad’s jaw worked.
“She has never had what you have.”
“Then you should have told her the truth.”
He tried to step through the gate. I stayed where I was.
“I’m asking you to leave,” I said.
“I came to apologize.”
“You came to find out whether I would give you the villa.”
He looked past me toward the house. I saw him measuring the distance to the front door, and my chest tightened. Then he turned and walked back to his car.
I stood outside until he drove away.
Olivia called that afternoon. She and David had returned home. Ben was upset about leaving Tahoe, but David had told him they were welcome to visit only when I invited them.
“Thank him for me,” I said.
Olivia took a breath.
“I should have said that myself at the party. I was thrilled when Dad told me you were giving it to us. When you said it was yours, I chose not to hear you.”
I sat at James’s desk.
“You did.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I need time.”
“I know.”
We ended the call without making plans.
That night, Ethan sent me a copy of the security records from the move-in day. He had preserved them with the camera footage. There was nothing dramatic in the logs, only the time David’s key opened the door and the time the officers arrived.
One entry caught my eye.
A different access code had been used at the villa four days before my family’s party.
I had been at sea. Ethan confirmed it was the old temporary code I once gave Dad for emergencies.
“What did he do inside?” I asked.
“Let’s review the recording.”
On the screen, Dad entered alone. He went straight to James’s study and opened the cabinet where I kept our old papers.
He stayed there for twenty-three minutes.
When he left, he carried a narrow blue folder.
May you like
I knew the folder.
James had used it for the earliest documents relating to our purchase of the villa.
