Chapter 6 - THE HOUSE WAS ALREADY IN TROUBLE
Dad had called me lazy while standing in front of a house partly saved by money connected to my work.
That irony almost impressed me.
The mortgage had been six months behind.
I never knew.
Dad drove a new Mercedes.
Mom wore designer clothes to charity events.
They hosted partners from the firm for expensive dinners.
From the outside, Richard Bennett looked exactly like the successful attorney he wanted everyone to believe he was.
Inside, he was drowning.
I called Mom.
“How long has the house been in trouble?”
She began crying immediately.
“Two years.”
“Why?”
“Your father made investments.”
“What kind?”
“Office buildings. A restaurant. Some private company Jason introduced him to.”
“How much did he lose?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
A long silence.
“Almost nine hundred thousand.”
I closed my eyes.
Dad’s anger suddenly looked different.
My law-school tuition had not been the real issue.
Control was.
He had spent years building his identity around success while secretly losing money.
Then his daughter quit the profession he worshipped and made more money from software than he had accumulated in decades.
I wondered if he knew how much I was worth when he threw me out.
At that moment, I still believed he didn’t.
Evelyn suspended both Dad and Jason pending the firm’s internal investigation.
Jason called me immediately.
“You happy now?”
“No.”
“You cost me my job.”
“You sent my confidential files to your startup.”
“You could tell them it was a misunderstanding.”
“It wasn’t.”
“You’re my sister.”
“That didn’t stop you.”
He hung up.
That evening, Mom showed up at Lena’s apartment carrying two boxes.
“What are those?”
“Your things.”
She had packed childhood photographs, old journals, awards, and a framed picture of us from my high-school graduation.
Then she handed me a bank envelope.
“I found this in your father’s desk.”
Inside was a printout of emails between Dad and Jason.
One dated three weeks earlier caught my attention.
Jason:
THE ACQUISITION IS REAL. I SAW THE TERM SHEET.
Dad:
VALUE?
Jason:
POTENTIALLY 19M.
I stopped breathing.
Dad had known.
Not after he kicked me out.
Not during the phone call.
Three weeks before.
May you like
Then I saw his response.
GOOD. THEN WE NEED HER DEPENDENT ON US BEFORE SHE CLOSES.
