Chapter 6 - Thirty-Eight Thousand
Nobody moved.
Yvette spoke first.
“You were borrowing thirty-eight thousand dollars against the house?”
Tanya looked ashamed.
“It wasn’t finalized.”
“For what?”
Raymond stepped in.
“For a business.”
Malik laughed.
Of course.
Not medical bills.
Not a leaking roof.
Not an emergency.
A business.
“What business?”
“Auto detailing.”
“You detail cars now?”
Raymond’s expression tightened.
“I know people.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Tanya raised both hands.
“Stop.”
Yvette ignored her.
“Is Raymond on the mortgage?”
“No.”
“Title?”
“No.”
“Loan application?”
Tanya hesitated.
Yvette’s face changed.
“You put him on the application?”
“He was going to be part of the business.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“No. The loan would be in my name.”
Yvette stared at her sister.
“So your house takes the risk.”
Raymond’s voice hardened.
“Our future takes the risk.”
Yvette looked him up and down.
“You don’t pay the light bill.”
“I contribute.”
“Name one recurring bill in your name.”
“Why you interrogating me?”
“Because everybody keeps using the word contribute without producing a number.”
Malik remained silent.
That silence made Tanya nervous.
She approached him.
“The plan was to open a shop. Raymond already had clients.”
“How much were you putting in?”
“Thirty-eight thousand.”
“How much was Raymond putting in?”
Raymond answered.
“Work. Contacts. Equipment.”
Malik turned.
“How much money?”
Raymond’s jaw flexed.
“That’s not the only kind of investment.”
Malik looked back at Tanya.
“And you were increasing my rent.”
“For the household.”
“To five hundred.”
“Malik, food costs more. Utilities—”
“Stop.”
His voice was low.
“Please stop giving me fake reasons.”
Tanya’s eyes filled.
He continued.
“If you needed help with the mortgage, say mortgage. If you wanted me contributing, say that. If you were scared, say you were scared.”
His finger pointed toward Raymond.
“But you kept telling me this was about my character while you were using my money to protect his lifestyle.”
Raymond stepped forward.
“You keep talking like four hundred dollars makes you king.”
“No. Four hundred apparently makes me more of a provider than you.”
Raymond’s shoulders squared.
Yvette immediately stepped between them.
“Back up.”
“I’m not touching him.”
“Good. Keep not touching him.”
Tanya started crying.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
That was worse.
“I was trying to keep everything together.”
Malik stared at her.
“By making me pay more?”
“I thought once Raymond’s business started, things would change.”
“Why was it my job to finance the time before his business started?”
“You lived here.”
“So did he.”
Tanya wiped her face.
“He helped me when I was behind.”
“How?”
“He gave me money.”
“How much?”
“Forty-three hundred over several months.”
Yvette frowned.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“And where did Raymond get forty-three hundred?”
“I don’t know.”
Raymond cut in.
“My savings.”
Yvette looked at him.
“What bank?”
“What?”
“You said savings. What bank?”
“You want account numbers too?”
“If my sister is risking a house to repay a man who claims he rescued it, yes, I’d like to know whether the rescue existed.”
Tanya looked at Yvette.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because you changed the locks on your son while preparing to borrow thirty-eight thousand dollars for a boyfriend who doesn’t pay rent.”
Raymond grabbed his keys.
“This is stupid.”
He walked toward the door.
Tanya followed.
“Raymond.”
“I’m not sitting here being called a bum.”
“No one called you—”
Malik spoke.
“I did.”
Raymond stopped.
He turned slowly.
Malik did not move.
“You live in a house you don’t pay for. Your girlfriend pays your car. Her son pays her. And now you want thirty-eight thousand against her house.”
Raymond’s eyes sharpened.
“You think you know everything.”
“No.”
Malik held up the screenshot.
“I think I’m finally learning.”
Raymond left.
The door slammed.
Tanya covered her face.
Yvette sat beside her.
For a few moments they were simply sisters again.
Not prosecutor and defendant.
“Tanya,” Yvette said. “Do you have the loan papers?”
Tanya nodded.
“Bring them.”
“Why?”
“Because before you sign anything, we’re reading every page.”
“I wasn’t signing tonight.”
“When?”
Tanya did not answer.
Yvette’s voice became hard.
“When?”
“Monday.”
It was Friday.
Malik felt sick.
Three days.
They had found out three days before his mother might have put the house at risk.
Tanya brought the folder from beneath the utility bills.
Yvette read slowly.
Loan amount.
Fees.
Variable-rate provisions.
Home as collateral.
Malik watched his mother.
“You were really going to do this.”
“I thought it was an opportunity.”
“Whose?”
Tanya flinched.
Yvette reached the back pages.
She stopped.
“Wait.”
She read one paragraph again.
“What?”
Tanya asked.
Yvette lifted a document.
“This isn’t only the loan application.”
Attached behind it was a draft business agreement.
COLE PREMIER AUTO LLC
Ownership:
Raymond Cole — 70%
Tanya Johnson — 30%
Yvette turned the page toward Tanya.
“You were borrowing thirty-eight thousand dollars against your house.”
Her finger landed on the ownership line.
“For thirty percent.”
Tanya stared.
“I never saw that page.”
Malik looked at Raymond’s signature.
Already signed.
Then at the empty line waiting for Tanya.
At the bottom was another provision.
If the initial capital contribution was not repaid within thirty-six months, Raymond could convert part of the debt into additional ownership interest.
Yvette whispered, “Tanya.”
Tanya’s hands began shaking.
Malik watched his mother realize something terrible.
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She had not only been lying to him.
Someone had also been lying to her.
