Chapter 7 - The Master of the House
Karen sat up straight, her smug smile instantly vanishing. ""Dad? What is he talking about? What second mortgage?""
Richard couldn't speak. The color had completely drained from his face, leaving his skin looking like wet plaster. The mighty patriarch, the man who had terrified me throughout my entire childhood, suddenly looked like an old, frail, defeated stranger.
""Tell her, Dad,"" I said gently, leaning back in my chair. ""Tell Karen about the half-million-dollar equity line you pulled out in 2021 to invest in that crypto mining scheme your buddy from the country club pitched you. The one you lost every dime on in six months.""
Karen shrieked, turning on her father. ""You took out five hundred thousand dollars on the house?! You told Greg the house was unencumbered! We were counting on using that equity to refinance our firm's expansion!""
""Shut up, Karen!"" Richard wheezed, clutching his chest. ""I was going to pay it back! The market was supposed to rebound!""
""The market didn't rebound,"" I said, picking up a breadstick, breaking it cleanly in half, and taking a bite. ""And for the last three years, the interest has been compounding at nine point two percent. You haven't made a principal payment in fourteen months, Dad. You've been paying just enough interest to keep the servicer from filing a public notice of default, using your pension checks to keep up appearances at the golf club.""
Greg, whose legal training finally cut through the family drama, snatched the document from Richard's trembling fingers. His eyes widened as he read the debt schedule.
""Oh my God,"" Greg whispered, running a hand through his hair. ""The total payoff balance is six hundred and eighty thousand dollars. If this goes to a trustee sale, the primary mortgage gets paid, this lien gets satisfied, and there's... there's less than fifty thousand dollars of equity left in the entire property.""
""Fifty thousand?"" Karen screamed, her voice cracking into a high-pitched wail that caused a waiter to stop in his tracks at the doorway. ""Fifty thousand dollars?! That's barely enough to cover Dylan's private school tuition for two years! Dad, you lied to us!""
""I am the master of this house!"" Richard shouted, trying to summon his old thunder, but his voice cracked weakly. He slammed his fist on the table, but there was no power behind it. ""You have no right, Daniel! You're my son! You can't foreclose on your own father! That's illegal! Greg, tell him that's illegal!""
Greg looked at Richard with a mixture of pity and utter disgust. ""Richard... if Daniel's corporate entity holds the perfected security deed, he doesn't just have the right. He has the absolute legal priority to force a sale within sixty days of default. He doesn't even need a court order; it's a non-judicial foreclosure state.""
I looked at the blue envelope sitting between us.
""So, Dad,"" I said, reaching over, picking up his carefully drafted will, and tapping it lightly against my palm. ""You were saying something about cutting Ethan and me out of your estate? You want to leave Karen the house? Please, be my guest. Sign it over to her tonight. Along with the seven hundred thousand dollars of debt attached to the front door.""
Karen physically recoiled from the table, as if the will were coated in poison. ""I'm not taking that debt! Greg, make sure my name isn't on that deed! We can't have our credit ruined because of his stupid mistakes!""
Richard looked at Karen, his beloved daughter, the golden child he had favored for forty years. She wasn't offering him a spare bedroom. She wasn't offering to help him pay the arrears. She was calculating her own liability and stepping back so she wouldn't get splashed by his financial blood.
""Karen..."" Richard whispered, reaching a hand out toward her. ""Honey, you have to help me. You have Greg's firm. You have savings...""
""We have two kids and a mortgage in Summerlin, Dad!"" Karen snapped, yanking her purse off the floor and standing up. ""You lied to us for years! You made us look like fools in front of the entire country club, and now you expect us to bail you out? Come on, Greg. We're leaving.""
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""Karen, please!"" Richard begged, his pride entirely shattered.
She didn't even look back. She marched out of the banquet room, heels clicking sharply against the tile floor, leaving her father sitting alone with the son he had tried to destroy.
