Chapter 16 - The Folder in His Car
Dylan had been stopped after a traffic violation two counties away. According to Park, officers discovered he was wanted on a warrant connected to the financial investigation. The case would still take time, and she couldn't share all the details.
"Is it over?" I asked.
"The immediate threat may be lower," she replied. "The paperwork won't disappear overnight. Keep your credit freezes active and stay in touch with your attorney."
At home, Ethan and I ate toast at the kitchen counter because neither of us had energy for dinner. When the baby kicked, he pressed his hand to the spot and smiled for the first time in days.
"She has terrible timing," I said.
"She gets that from my side."
We laughed, then went quiet. Laughter felt unfamiliar after so much fear.
The next morning Camille called with news from the civil side of our problems. The mortgage company had flagged the application Tessa warned us about. The proposed lien had not been recorded, and our home remained legally ours according to the documents reviewed.
"Good," I said. "I just want one ordinary week."
"Ordinary takes practice," Camille said.
Meanwhile Mom sold her second car to begin repaying money she'd received. She wrote a statement acknowledging that the transfers had benefited her household, and she offered records to the creditors. That didn't clear the loans from my credit immediately. We still had forms to submit, disputes to track, and uncomfortable calls to answer.
For the first time I understood why people call recovery work. None of it made a dramatic photograph. We changed passwords, signed forms, returned messages, and kept receipts in a folder beside the toaster. We celebrated small victories: a disputed charge removed, a credit file corrected, a night I slept without waking to check the locks. They were unglamorous victories, but they belonged to us.
A week later I received an envelope with no return address. Inside was the spare house key Brooke had surrendered, attached to a simple note.
May you like
I WAS WRONG ABOUT WHAT YOU OWED ME.
At the bottom was one more sentence: I'M GOING TO TELL THEM EVERYTHING.
