Victoria sat at the kitchen table with both hands wrapped around a mug she never drank from.
Jordan stood across from her.
“What did he know?”
She stared into the coffee.
“That I had taken money.”
“How much?”
She swallowed.
“I don't remember.”
“You don't remember?”
“It was a long time ago.”
“You remember everything else.”
Victoria looked at him.
“I owed more than I could pay.”
“To his parents?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She closed her eyes.
“I had gotten myself into trouble.”
“What kind?”
She hesitated.
Then said, “Gambling.”
Jordan went completely still.
I had never heard him mention it.
Victoria continued before he could ask.
“Cards. Online betting later. At first it was small.”
She rubbed her thumb against the mug.
“Then I started chasing losses.”
Jordan pulled out a chair and sat.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“That isn't an answer.”
She looked at him.
“More than I had.”
He waited.
“Then more than your father had.”
Daniel's parents had helped her.
They had given her money to cover the immediate debts.
She promised to repay them.
Instead, she borrowed again.
Then again.
By the time Daniel discovered what was happening, Victoria had created a chain of debts that threatened the house she and Jordan were living in.
“He wanted me to tell you,” she said.
Jordan's voice was quiet.
“And you didn't.”
“No.”
“What did he threaten?”
“He said he would take legal action.”
“For the money?”
“For custody.”
Jordan's eyes narrowed.
“Because you were gambling.”
Victoria nodded.
“He said you weren't safe with me.”
Jordan looked down.
“Were you?”
Victoria began to cry.
“I was getting better.”
“That wasn't what I asked.”
“No.”
The answer landed heavily.
Jordan looked toward the window.
“I was a child.”
“I know.”
“You could have lost me.”
“I know.”
“And Dad knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he take me?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Because he loved you.”
Jordan's expression tightened.
“That doesn't answer the question.”
“It does.”
She wiped her eyes.
“He knew that if he dragged me through court, you'd be caught in the middle.”
Jordan stared at her.
“He chose not to punish you through me.”
Victoria nodded.
“He told me he would help me get treatment. He offered to pay some of the debt.”
Jordan looked stunned.
“He did?”
“Yes.”
“And you still kept him away.”
“I was ashamed.”
Jordan shook his head.
“You were afraid.”
“Yes.”
“But you were also ashamed.”
“Yes.”
She finally admitted it.
Jordan leaned back.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then he asked, “Did Dad tell his parents?”
Victoria nodded.
“They wanted their money.”
“Of course.”
“They were angry.”
“What happened to them?”
Victoria looked down.
“They lost the house.”
Jordan closed his eyes.
The sentence from Daniel the day before suddenly had a different weight.
“What happened to their house?”
“I couldn't repay them.”
Jordan stared at her.
“And you never told me.”
“No.”
He stood.
“Where is Dad now?”
“I don't know.”
“He called yesterday.”
“I mean where does he live?”
Victoria gave him an address.
Jordan wrote it down.
Then he stopped.
“You knew where he lived all these years?”
“Not all.”
“But you could have found him.”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
He nodded slowly.
“I need you to understand something.”
Victoria looked up.
“This isn't about whether I forgive you.”
Her face tightened.
“It isn't even about whether I love you.”
“I know.”
“You are my mother.”
She began crying again.
“But you don't get to use that fact as proof that I owe you access to me.”
Victoria nodded.
“I understand.”
“I hope you do.”
Jordan turned toward the door.
Then Victoria said, “There is something else.”
He stopped.
“What?”
She looked terrified.
“The house.”
Jordan frowned.
“What about it?”
“The money.”
He turned around.
“What money?”
“The reason I wanted everyone there.”
Jordan stared at her.
“You said you wanted the family together.”
“I did.”
“But?”
Victoria took a breath.
“I wanted to ask you for the house.”
He laughed in disbelief.
“You already tried.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I mean permanently.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Jordan looked at me.
Then back at her.
“For what?”
“To sell it.”
He stared.
“No.”
“I haven't finished.”
“You don't need to.”
“Your father's parents left money.”
Jordan's expression changed.
“What?”
Victoria nodded.
“After they died.”
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“It was held in a trust.”
Jordan stared at her.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because the house is part of it.”
Silence.
I looked at Jordan.
He looked as confused as I felt.
“What are you talking about?”
Victoria took a folder from a cabinet.
She placed it on the table.
“The house wasn't bought the way you think.”
Jordan opened the folder.
There were bank records.
Old deeds.
A trust document.
His name appeared repeatedly.
Jordan's hands began shaking.
“This can't be right.”
Victoria said nothing.
He kept reading.
Then he looked up.
“Dad helped buy our house.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“He didn't want you to know.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted you to have a home.”
Jordan looked at the deed.
The date was from years before our marriage.
The ownership arrangement was more complicated than either of us had understood.
Daniel had contributed money through a trust.
Victoria had contributed the rest.
But Jordan had been named as beneficiary.
The house was not simply ours in the ordinary sense.
It had been protected for him.
Jordan sat down.
“So when you said you needed the house…”
Victoria nodded.
“I was trying to get control of it.”
“Why?”
She looked at him.
“Because I still have debts.”
The words were almost inaudible.
Jordan stared.
“You're still gambling?”
“No.”
“Then what debts?”
“Old ones.”
“Mom.”
She covered her face.
“Interest. Agreements. Things I never finished paying.”
Jordan pushed the folder away.
“You brought the entire family to my house because you wanted me to sell it.”
“I wanted to ask.”
“No.”
“I thought if everyone was here—”
“You thought family pressure would make me agree.”
She began crying.
“Yes.”
Jordan stood.
“You didn't need a house.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
He looked at the photographs in the box.
Then at the court order.
Then at the trust document.
Everything had been tied together by one thing.
Control.
Victoria had needed control over the story.
Control over Daniel.
Control over the house.
Control over the debt.
And when Jordan stopped giving it to her, she had brought the entire family to force the issue.
Jordan walked toward the door.
Victoria followed.
“Please.”
He turned.
“I need you to leave.”
Her face fell.
“This is my home too.”
“No.”
The word was firm.
“It isn't.”
She stared at him.
“I raised you here.”
“You raised me.”
He pointed toward the house.
“That doesn't give you ownership of it.”
She whispered, “Your father helped you get it.”
“I know.”
“That money was mine too.”
Jordan looked at the papers.
“Then show me.”
Victoria froze.
“Show me every document.”
“I don't have everything.”
“Then we'll get it.”
She shook her head.
“From whom?”
“My father.”
Victoria looked frightened again.
Jordan saw it.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“What are you afraid he'll tell me?”
Victoria said nothing.
Jordan looked at me.
Then back at her.
“You keep acting like Dad is the person I'm going to discover something terrible about.”
He picked up the trust papers.
“But every time I ask a question, you're the one who looks scared.”
Victoria's eyes filled.
Jordan opened the door.
“Go home.”
She stepped outside.
Then she turned.
“You don't know what your father did.”
Jordan stopped.
“What did he do?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I can't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because he made a promise.”
“To you?”
She nodded.
Jordan stared at her.
“What promise?”
“That if I kept quiet about the money, he would never tell you why he really left.”
Jordan's face went pale.
“You said he didn't leave.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
She whispered, “Ask him.”
She walked away.
Jordan shut the door.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Then he looked at me.
“I thought we were finally at the bottom.”
I looked at the folder in his hand.
“So did I.”
He shook his head.
“But there’s something else.”
And this time, the fear on his face wasn't about Victoria.
It was about what Daniel might have been hiding.
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: Daniel’s Explanation Changed the Meaning of His Disappearance, and Jordan Had to Decide Whether Love Could Survive Another Secret
The Message on My Phone Arrived Before the First Car Did, and by the Time I Read It, Someone Had Already Decided Our House Was Theirs
Part 6 of 12
