Chapter 4 - The Door Vivian Closed
The next morning, Vivian changed every exterior lock code.
She removed Audrey’s gate access.
Then she called the bank and formally disputed the transfers from the emergency account.
The banker warned her that because Audrey had once been an authorized signer, determining whether the transfers violated their agreement would require review.
Vivian understood.
“I’m not asking you to decide today. I’m asking you to preserve the records.”
That afternoon Audrey arrived alone.
She remained outside the locked gate.
“Mom, open the gate.”
Vivian spoke through the intercom.
“Where’s Damon?”
“At a hotel.”
“With what money?”
Audrey closed her eyes.
“Can we not do this through a speaker?”
“No.”
It was the first time Vivian had ever refused her daughter entry to the property.
Audrey eventually sat in her car and called.
Their conversation lasted twenty-three minutes.
Damon’s construction business had been losing money for almost a year. A commercial client had withheld payment after a dispute. Two subcontractors had filed claims. Their mortgage was four months delinquent.
“How much do you owe?” Vivian asked.
Audrey whispered the number.
“Almost four hundred thousand.”
Vivian gripped the phone.
“And you thought moving into my house solved that?”
Audrey didn’t answer.
Vivian asked about the mailing address.
Audrey said Damon had changed it because they might lose their home.
“That doesn’t explain why he used mine before the foreclosure started.”
Another pause.
Then Audrey said, “Mom, I need you to trust me.”
Vivian almost laughed.
Instead she asked one question.
“Did you give him permission to use my address?”
Audrey stared through the gate toward the house where she had grown up.
“Yes.”
That admission changed something.
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Vivian had spent days wondering what Damon had done behind Audrey’s back.
Now she understood at least one part of it had been done with Audrey’s help.
