Chapter 3 - SELINA WASN’T MY RIVAL
The next morning, Selina called me.
“I need to apologize.”
“You didn’t insult me.”
“No.”
She hesitated.
“But I knew Julian compared us.”
I stayed quiet.
“Ethan told me it was harmless.”
“How often?”
Her answer hurt more than I expected.
“For months.”
Julian had shown Ethan photographs of me.
Not private photographs.
Family pictures.
Me holding our daughter with unwashed hair.
Me asleep beside our toddler.
Me at the grocery store in leggings.
Then he joked about how different I looked from the woman he married.
Ethan laughed.
Sometimes Selina did too.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I appreciated the honesty.
Then she said:
“There’s something you need to see.”
We met at a coffee shop.
Selina brought her laptop.
Ethan had given her access to a shared financial folder while preparing their prenup.
Inside was Mercer Lakeside Ventures.
Projected development cost:
$3.4 million.
Current capital committed:
$640,000.
I frowned.
“Where did they get six hundred forty thousand?”
Selina looked at me.
“That’s why I called.”
Julian and Ethan had invested only $110,000 in cash.
Carol added $50,000.
The rest came from debt.
A private lender had committed $480,000.
Collateral listed:
EXPECTED HOME EQUITY CONTRIBUTION — CLAIRE & JULIAN MERCER RESIDENCE.
My blood ran cold.
Our house.
The home where my children slept.
The house I had spent two years fighting to keep.
“Did I sign anything?”
“No.”
Good.
But attached to the lender presentation was a note:
TITLE RESTRUCTURE TO BE COMPLETED Q3.
Currently, our house was titled jointly.
Julian apparently planned to move it into a family property LLC.
I had never agreed.
Then Selina showed me an email.
Ethan to Julian:
CLAIRE WILL NEVER SIGN IF YOU CALL IT COLLATERAL.
Julian:
I KNOW. PRESENT IT AS ESTATE PLANNING.
My hands went numb.
The brothers had planned to get my signature by describing the document as something else.
No forged signature yet.
No completed loan.
But intent mattered to me emotionally even before lawyers evaluated anything else.
Then another email.
Julian:
AFTER THE BIRTHDAY I’LL HANDLE HER. SHE’S BEEN INSECURE LATELY.
Ethan:
USE SELINA. CLAIRE ALWAYS GETS COMPETITIVE WHEN SHE FEELS OLD.
Selina covered her face.
“Oh my God.”
The swimsuit comparison had not been spontaneous.
May you like
They had been softening me emotionally before asking me to sign away security in our home.
Humiliation was part of the strategy.
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