Chapter 10 - BRENDA WASN’T THE ONE DEREK WAS SAVING
The major twist came from Derek himself.
Rebecca had advised Chloe not to chase every financial thread. The bank and attorneys could handle the documents relevant to her.
But Derek asked for one final meeting.
This time Erin attended.
They sat in a conference room at Rebecca’s office.
Derek looked at his sister first.
“You told her about the 2023 loan.”
“I told her to ask you.”
He nodded.
Then he turned to Chloe.
“There’s more.”
Chloe waited.
“The mansion didn’t become unstable because Mom kept spending.”
Brenda had been telling relatives exactly that: property taxes, aging infrastructure, Robert’s bad investments.
Derek rubbed both palms together.
“The house was almost paid off when Dad died.”
Erin’s face changed.
“What?”
Derek nodded.
“The big debt is mine.”
Chloe already knew about the one hundred eighty thousand.
Apparently that was not the whole number.
Derek’s failed company had taken additional private loans.
When the business folded, Brenda paid settlements and tax obligations from a second borrowing against the mansion.
Then Derek borrowed again personally to keep making payments to Brenda so she would not realize how little he had recovered.
He had been paying family debt with new debt.
“How much?” Chloe asked.
Derek looked at the table.
“Just over four hundred thousand, including interest and what Mom covered.”
Erin stood.
“You let me spend two years thinking Mom was draining us because she couldn’t give up the house.”
“She was protecting me.”
Erin stared at him.
“No. She was protecting the favorite version of you.”
Derek flinched.
And suddenly three earlier details changed meaning.
Brenda’s obsession with the forty-five thousand was not simply greed.
She knew exactly why the mansion was failing.
Derek’s rage when Chloe carried the cashier’s check away was not merely financial desperation.
He had already promised Brenda that Chloe’s money would finally begin repairing what he had caused.
And the wedding timeline itself made sense.
Three months earlier, when Derek began preparing the refinance package, his latest personal loan had entered delinquency.
He had not rushed toward marriage solely because he loved Chloe.
He had accelerated a future he already wanted because marriage made asking for sacrifice feel easier.
Chloe looked at him.
“Was Saturday about love?”
Derek’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He understood.
“Would we have married that weekend if the refinance wasn’t collapsing?”
A long silence.
Finally:
“I don’t know.”
That answer broke something cleaner than anger.
Chloe removed her wedding ring.
She placed it on the conference table.
Derek stared at it.
Brenda had not trapped Chloe into rescuing her son.
Derek had spent years letting his mother rescue him.
May you like
Then, when Brenda’s resources ran out, he brought a new woman into the system.
And he had expected marriage to turn Chloe from partner into the next source of oxygen.
