“Because I need to know which one of them is lying.”
For the next three weeks, I became someone my son had never met.
I stopped rescuing.
I stopped explaining.
And most importantly, I stopped assuming.
I changed the password on my computer.
I installed a lock on my office door.
I gathered bank statements, emails, legal documents, and property records.
Michael reviewed everything.
No title transfer had occurred.
No mortgage existed.
My ownership was secure.
Then we examined the fake email.
It had been sent from my actual account.
Not spoofed.
Someone had logged in.
I changed every password I had.
Michael asked if Liam knew the old one.
I thought about it.
Years earlier, after David d.i.e.d, Liam had helped me set up my laptop.
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
Then came Christmas.
Harper and Liam were still in the house because I had agreed to December thirty-first.
The atmosphere was unbearable.
We exchanged no gifts.
I attended church.
They spent the afternoon with her family.
That evening, Liam found me in the den.
“Mom?”
I looked up from my book.
“What?”
“Can we start over?”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
I had rarely seen my son cry as an adult.
It affected me.
But not the way it once would have.
“Please.”
“You have six days to move.”
“I know.”
“Then use them.”
He sat opposite me.
“I messed up.”
“How?”
He looked toward the floor.
“I should’ve talked to you.”
“About what?”
“The house.”
“What about it?”
He rubbed his palms together.
“I thought maybe if you saw how well we all lived together—”
I laughed.
I couldn’t help it.
His face fell.
“Well?”
“I mean… as a family.”
“You contacted a title company without speaking to me.”
“I was only asking questions.”
“You told Harper I wanted to transfer the house.”
He swallowed.
“I got ahead of myself.”
“And the email to Brenda?”
His head jerked up.
That was the answer.
He hadn’t known I had it.
I watched panic move across his face.
“What email?”
“The one supposedly written by me.”
Silence.
“Liam.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Then you won’t mind if I ask police to determine who accessed my email.”
His entire body changed.
Shoulders.
Jaw.
Eyes.
Everything.
“Police?”
“Yes.”
“Mom, that’s insane.”
“Is it?”
“You’d call the police on your own son?”
“I didn’t say you sent it.”
He stared at me.
I leaned forward.
“Interesting that you assumed I did.”
His mouth opened.
Then closed.
I had my answer.
But before I could continue, Harper appeared in the doorway.
“What are you talking about?”
Liam stood.
“Nothing.”
I almost admired the instinct.
Cornered, exposed, terrified—and still his first response was avoidance.
Harper looked between us.
“What email?”
Liam moved toward her.
“Come upstairs.”
“No.”
Her voice changed.
“Chelsea?”
I watched her.
Then I made a decision.
“Ask your mother.”
Harper went still.
“What?”
“Ask Brenda about the sixty thousand dollars.”
All color left Harper’s face.
She looked at Liam.
“Sixty thousand what?”
Liam whispered, “Mom.”
But this time he wasn’t speaking to me.
Harper stepped backward.
“You took money from my mother?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How was it?”
“She offered to help us.”
“With what?”
He didn’t answer.
I did.
“With buying this house.”
Harper stared at him.
Then at me.
Then back at him.
“I thought the money came from your investment account.”
Silence.
Another lie exposed.
“What investment account?” I asked.
Harper didn’t look at me.
“Our down payment.”
I slowly stood.
“What down payment?”
She faced me.
“The eighty-four thousand dollars Liam and I saved before the wedding.”
My heart sank.
Liam sat down.
Hard.
Harper’s voice became almost a whisper.
“Where is it?”
He covered his face.
“Liam.”
Nothing.
She stepped closer.
“Where is our money?”
He lowered his hands.
“I can explain.”
“Where is it?”
“I made an investment.”
Harper stared.
“What investment?”
His voice cracked.
“Options.”
She blinked.
I didn’t understand the details.
I didn’t need to.
Her expression explained everything.
“You lost it.”
He said nothing.
“You lost eighty-four thousand dollars?”
“I was trying to grow it.”
She staggered backward and grabbed the doorframe.
“How much is left?”
Silence.
“HOW MUCH?”
“About six.”
She stared at him.
“Six thousand?”
He nodded.
Harper’s knees seemed to weaken.
I moved instinctively toward her.
Then stopped.
Not because I didn’t care.
Because she needed the truth more than she needed comfort.
Liam began talking quickly.
“I was going to fix it. I thought if we could get the house, we wouldn’t need as much for a down payment. Then your mom said she could help, and I thought—”
Harper stared at him.
“You told me Chelsea offered us the house.”
“I thought she eventually would.”
“You said she had already spoken to a lawyer.”
