CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
Brittany found them before Eric could answer.
She stepped onto the patio in silk pajamas, holding her phone in one hand and suspicion in both eyes.
“What are you two whispering about?”
Eric folded the paper quickly, but not quickly enough.
Brittany saw it.
Her smile disappeared.
“What is that?”
Howard reached for the paper, but Eric held it close.
“Something I should’ve known about a long time ago,” Eric said.
Brittany laughed once, sharp and ugly.
“Oh, please. Is this another old-man guilt trick? Some sad little savings account he wants you to blow on hospital bills?”
Eric stood.
Brittany froze.
It had been a long time since he stood while she was still talking.
“Don’t speak about him like that.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Excuse me?”
Eric’s voice shook, but he did not sit down.
“You served my father food in a dog bowl.”
Brittany looked toward Howard, then back at Eric.
“And you let me.”
That silenced him.
She stepped closer.
“You want to play brave now because he showed you some paper? Fine. But remember something, Eric. This house is mine. The accounts are mine. The credit cards are mine. The lawyer is mine.”
Howard slowly rose from his chair.
“No,” he said.
Brittany turned to him with a cold smile.
“No?”
Howard’s tired eyes sharpened.
“The house is not yours.”
Brittany blinked.
Eric looked at his father.
Howard reached into his wallet and pulled out another folded document, older than the first.
“Your mother sold it to me eighteen months ago,” Howard said. “For one dollar. After she got tired of watching you use my son like furniture.”
May you like
Brittany’s face drained of color.
For the first time since Eric had married her, she had nothing ready to say.
