Chapter 4 - BLAIRE DIDN’T SLEEP THERE THAT NIGHT
Jeremy followed Blaire toward the closet.
“Don’t start packing.”
She pulled down a suitcase.
“Move.”
“Blaire.”
“Move.”
Edith stood in the bedroom doorway.
Her cruelty had disappeared.
Now she looked confused.
“You told me the deed would be updated after the refinancing.”
Jeremy snapped:
“Mom, stop talking.”
Blaire turned slowly.
“What refinancing?”
Nobody answered.
She packed enough for four days.
Laptop.
Medication.
Work clothes.
Toiletries.
The deed went back into her handbag.
Jeremy tried again.
“You’re blowing this up.”
“Your mother grabbed my hair.”
“She was angry.”
“She hit me with an AC remote.”
“She pressed it against you.”
Blaire stared.
Jeremy heard himself.
For a second, shame appeared.
Then he said:
“You shoved her hand.”
“After she grabbed me.”
Edith interrupted.
“I put money into this house.”
Blaire looked at her.
“How much?”
Edith glanced at Jeremy.
“Three hundred fifty thousand.”
Blaire almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because the number was impossible.
“I never received $350,000.”
“Jeremy handled it.”
Blaire looked at her husband.
He had stopped trying to block the suitcase.
That frightened her more than if he had shouted.
Blaire left.
She stayed at a hotel near Brickell so she could get to work easily.
Then called Rachel Stein, the attorney who had handled her prenup and home purchase.
Rachel answered at 10:22 p.m.
Blaire apologized.
Rachel said:
“Stop apologizing and tell me what happened.”
Blaire did.
The assault.
The deed.
The $350,000.
The refinancing comment.
Rachel became quiet.
“Do you have any mortgage other than the original loan?”
“No.”
“Home-equity line?”
“No.”
“Did you authorize Jeremy to request title documents recently?”
“No.”
That was why Blaire had the deed copy in her handbag.
Three days earlier, the county title-monitoring service Blaire enrolled in after purchasing the house sent a notification.
A title company had requested certification documents relating to the property.
Not a transfer.
Not a new deed.
An inquiry.
Blaire had asked Rachel to investigate.
The certified deed arrived that afternoon.
Rachel said:
“I need to find out who made the inquiry.”
Blaire looked toward the hotel window.
“And Edith’s money?”
“That may be a completely separate problem.”
May you like
It was.
And the person caught between those problems was Jeremy.
