Chapter 4 - The Envelope Under the Photograph
I drove to Sofia's apartment before sunrise with the box on the passenger seat. Mom was awake at the kitchen table, holding a cup of tea with both hands. She looked exhausted, but nobody was telling her where to sit.
When she saw the envelope, the cup rattled against its saucer.
"Your father told me to open that if Adam ever came asking for a new signature," she said. "I was afraid to know what it said."
I broke the seal. Dad's handwriting covered three pages. He said the Park Avenue condominium had been Mom's since she inherited it from her aunt. He had never owned it. He could manage bills while he was alive, but he couldn't give the property to me, Daniel, or Adam. Dad had discovered that somebody was building a false paper trail to make an eventual sale look legitimate.
The last paragraph read: DANIEL WITNESSED WHAT I FOUND. IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME, ASK HIM ABOUT THE LEDGER. PROTECT YOUR MOTHER'S HOME. DO NOT LET ADAM EXPLAIN THE PAPERS ALONE.
"Why didn't you show me?" I asked.
Mom glanced toward the window. "Because you kept saying your father left the apartment to you. Every time I corrected you, Vanessa said I was confused. Adam backed her up. Then you started asking me to sign papers."
I'd been paying the taxes and maintenance fees for years. In my head, that had made me the owner. In the real world, it made me a son who paid bills in his mother's home.
Sofia placed her phone on the table. "Dad, there's more."
She played a clip from six weeks earlier. Vanessa sat across from Mom, tapping a paper. "Just sign. Mateo already knows."
Mom's recorded voice shook. "But it's my home."
May you like
Vanessa leaned closer. "Only until we decide otherwise."
My phone rang. ADAM VALE flashed across the screen. Before I answered, Sofia showed me a second notification: a condo-board alert that an expedited ownership review had been scheduled for Friday. Friday was forty-eight hours away.
