Chapter 4 - The House of Cards
The shock hit the room like a physical shockwave.
Eleanor stood up so abruptly her chair screeched against the floorboards, her face draining of every drop of color until she looked like a marble statue. "Marcus! Have you lost your mind? You are a Vance! You don't take sides with... with peasants!"
"I'm not taking sides, Aunt Eleanor, I'm stating real estate law," Marcus replied coldly, tossing his briefcase onto an empty chair. He looked directly at Thaddius, who was trembling, his hands gripping the edge of the table as if he were standing on the edge of a cliff. "Thaddius has been borrowing against the equity of this house for the past two years to fund his private investment club and his gambling debts in the city. But because he didn't actually hold the underlying land title—because the deed was bound to the trust your father set up, Sara—every single mortgage document Thaddius signed is legally fraudulent."
My jaw dropped. I turned slowly to look at my husband.
"You borrowed against the estate?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "You took out loans using a house you didn't even legally own the underlying land for?"
Thaddius swallowed hard, his throat working convulsively. "I... I had to keep up appearances, Sara! You don't understand how these people operate! If they found out we were cash-poor, they would have frozen me out of the family firm years ago!"
"So you committed bank fraud using my father's property?" I asked, the pieces snapping together with terrifying clarity. Every late-night phone call, every stressed sigh over his laptop, every demand that I sign over more financial control—it wasn't just arrogance. It was panic. He was drowning in debt, and he had used my company’s success and my family's hidden asset to stay afloat.
Cordelia finally lost her composure, slamming her wine glass down onto the table with a sharp crack that threatened to shatter the crystal. "This is ridiculous! We are the Vances! You can't just steal our home!"
"Nobody is stealing anything," Dad said calmly, standing up to his full height. He looked down at Thaddius with a gaze so heavy with disappointment that even my husband flinched. "We just wanted to see what kind of man you married, Sara. We wanted to see if he loved you for who you are, or if he only loved what you could provide while his family treated you like dirt."
May you like
Dad turned toward me, his expression softening. "And now you have your answer."
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