Chapter 4 - MY MOTHER'S COMPANY
Mom denied knowing what Palmer Family Solutions was.
For about thirty seconds.
Then she admitted she had signed “some forms” for Dileia.
“What forms?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You created an LLC.”
“Dileia created it.”
“In your name.”
“She said it was for tax purposes.”
I looked around my parents’ kitchen and wondered how many times I had solved problems in this room while everyone else hid things from me.
“When did she create it?”
“Last year.”
“Why?”
Mom’s eyes filled.
“She was behind on taxes.”
So Palmer Family Solutions was created to receive real-estate referral income and consulting payments that Dileia did not want flowing directly through her own accounts.
At least, that was how Mom understood it.
Whether that explanation held up was someone else’s job to determine.
“What does this have to do with my duplex?”
Mom began crying.
“I thought you were selling it.”
“Who told you?”
“Your father.”
Of course.
Dad had transformed a private purchase into a family project without ever speaking to me.
Then Mom said:
“Dileia said if she found the buyer, the family could finally get back some of what we put into you.”
I went completely still.
“What you put into me?”
Mom covered her mouth.
She knew immediately how ugly it sounded.
I had paid my own college tuition after scholarships.
Worked summers.
Paid rent at home for eight months after graduation.
Helped my parents financially for years.
Yet somewhere in the family mythology, my stability represented a debt.
I stood.
Mom reached for me.
“Ranata, I didn’t mean—”
“I know.”
That was the tragedy.
She probably didn’t.
On Monday, Patricia met me with a new stack of records.
“Palmer Family Solutions has received more than the Caldwell escrow.”
“How much?”
“Just over $83,000 in eighteen months.”
“From where?”
Several sources.
Referral fees.
Consulting.
One payment from Blue Ridge.
Another from a mortgage brokerage.
Then a name caught my attention.
Caldwell Street Holdings LLC.
“That sounds like my property.”
“It isn’t your LLC.”
I stared at her.
Someone had formed a company using my property’s street name four months after I closed.
Registered manager:
Donald Lewis.
May you like
My father.
And Caldwell Street Holdings had taken out a $120,000 business line of credit using projected rental income from a duplex it did not own.
