Chapter 8 - MEGAN FINALLY STOPPED DEFENDING THEM
Megan left Kyle the following week.
Not because I told her to.
I didn’t.
She changed the locks on the room she was using at Mom and Dad’s house.
Opened a new bank account.
Pulled her credit reports.
Scheduled an appointment with an attorney.
For the first time in her adult life, she began treating financial chaos like something that required action instead of rescue.
Then she called me.
“I need a job.”
That might have been the most surprising sentence she had ever said.
“What kind?”
“Anything with health insurance.”
She had two children and eight years of scattered work experience.
Finding something good would take time.
But she was trying.
I helped with her résumé.
Only because she asked.
Not because Mom called.
Not because Dad declared an emergency.
That difference mattered.
Three weeks later, Megan accepted an administrative coordinator position at a medical practice.
Not glamorous.
Not Cherry Creek.
But hers.
Meanwhile, Kyle’s fake studio deposits were refunded after Megan gave him the money she still had access to and insisted he make the customers whole.
He resisted.
She told him he could explain the situation to them himself.
He refunded everything.
Then Megan did something else.
She deleted the Facebook post about my condo.
Not edited.
Deleted.
In its place, she wrote:
Sometimes entitlement looks like confidence until reality sends you the bill. Starting over.
I almost called her dramatic.
Then I decided she had earned one dramatic post.
Dad was less impressed.
He accused me of “turning Megan against the family.”
I finally answered:
“Dad, Megan is thirty-two years old. If she disagrees with you, that’s called having an opinion.”
He hung up.
Mom began talking seriously about selling their house.
Dad refused.
His argument was predictable.
“What will people think?”
Mom surprised me.
She said:
“They’ll think we moved.”
That was the beginning of her changing too.
Then Simone called with the final review of the forged promissory note and occupancy agreement.
The condo sale was secure.
No legitimate claim existed against the property.
Dad’s fake $75,000 loan had no supporting financial trail.
Kyle’s lease document had no authority.
For me, the legal chapter was nearly over.
Then Simone said:
“There is one outstanding issue.”
“What?”
“Your grandmother’s estate.”
I sat upright.
“We resolved Megan’s inheritance.”
“Not all of it.”
Grandma had owned a small parcel of commercial land outside Denver.
According to the will, proceeds from any sale were supposed to be divided equally between me and Megan.
The property had been sold four years earlier.
Neither of us received anything.
May you like
Sale price:
$420,000.
