Chapter 3 - The Deed in Black and White
Wesley grabbed the folder he had brought to dinner and ripped open the interior sleeve, looking for his own paperwork.
"It doesn't matter what happened at the firm!" he shouted, his mask of composure completely shattered.
"This house is community property! We bought it together in 2015, and my name is on the county title!"
I watched him scramble through the yellow-tabbed documents with a mixture of pity and cool indifference.
"Your name was on the title, Wesley," I said, tapping the edge of my water glass with my fingernail.
"Until August eleventh, when you signed the quitclaim deed in exchange for the forty thousand dollars you needed to cover your first embezzlement shortfall."
Miriam dropped the termination notice onto her gravy plate, oblivious to the stain spreading across the white paper.
"You did what? You signed over the house?"
"He didn't want you to know he was drowning, Miriam," I said, looking directly at the woman who had planned my eviction.
"He came to me in tears back in July, begging me to liquidate my grandmother’s inheritance bond to save him from immediate arrest."
"I agreed to pay off his initial debt to the company on one non-negotiable legal condition: he had to sign the deed over to me."
"He executed the transfer before a notary public at my credit union on Hawthorne Boulevard," I continued smoothly.
"The county clerk recorded the transfer four weeks ago. This home belongs entirely to me."
Wesley’s chest heaved as he leaned over the table, his knuckles whitening against the edge of the wood.
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"I was under emotional duress! No judge will uphold a transfer executed under threat of criminal exposure!"
"You had an independent attorney review the contract, Wesley. His signature and bar number are right beside yours."
