Chapter 8 - THE HOUSE WAS NEVER THE REAL PRIZE
The attempted transfer paperwork was already prepared.
Jason would receive the adjoining acre for one dollar.
Then he planned to sell access rights back to whoever bought my house.
A clever little scheme.
If I sold without knowing, Jason could control the driveway and utility easement.
He could demand money.
Delay closing.
Possibly make the buyers walk away.
The buyers were furious when told.
Not at me.
At the fraud.
They gave me thirty days to resolve everything.
I thanked them.
Then I visited Mom.
Some days she knew me.
That day she did.
“Emmy.”
“Hi, Mom.”
I sat beside her.
“Do you remember the house?”
She smiled.
“Your grandmother hated that kitchen.”
I laughed.
“She was right.”
Then I asked gently:
“Do you want Jason to have the back acre?”
Her face changed.
“Jason?”
“My brother.”
She frowned.
“You don’t have a brother.”
I stared.
Mom’s memory drifted.
She thought I was fourteen.
Jason had been nine then.
Why would she say that?
“Mom, Jason.”
She looked frightened.
“Diane’s boy.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
She whispered:
“Not Robert’s.”
I did not breathe.
“Mom?”
She looked toward the door.
“Diane was already pregnant.”
Everything tilted.
Jason was two years younger than me.
Dad and Diane claimed their relationship began after Mom’s accident.
That was another lie.
Diane had been involved with Dad earlier.
But apparently Jason was not even Dad’s biological child.
I ordered no secret DNA test.
I confronted Dad.
“Is Jason yours?”
Silence.
Then:
“I raised him.”
Not an answer.
“Is he biologically yours?”
“No.”
Dad had known.
Diane had been pregnant by someone else when their affair became serious.
Dad accepted Jason as his own.
There was nothing wrong with that.
The lie was the problem.
Why hide it?
Because Jason’s biological father was Charles Warren.
Founder of the construction company where Dad worked.
The same company Dad stole from.
Suddenly the old embezzlement case looked different.
Charles Warren had been sleeping with Diane.
Dad knew.
Diane became pregnant.
Dad stole company money.
Daniel was framed.
Then Dad married Diane.
There was more than romance connecting them.
Blackmail.
Diane knew Dad stole.
Dad knew Jason belonged to Charles.
They had protected each other for decades.
Then my attorney discovered something else.
Charles Warren died twelve years ago.
His will included a sealed provision for any proven biological children.
Jason might be entitled to millions.
May you like
Diane had known.
And she had been trying desperately to acquire Mom’s land before anyone discovered Jason never needed my money at all.
