Chapter 8 - The Desperate Bargain
A month later, I received a letter in the mail. It was from a mediator hired by my mother.
She wanted to make a deal.
The bank was going to seize the house, leaving them with absolutely nothing. Her proposition was simple: if I lifted the lien and dropped the civil suit, she would sign the deed of the house entirely over to me. She just wanted the legal nightmare to end so she could avoid prison time for the financial fraud charges we were preparing to press.
I sat in Sarah’s office, staring at the contract.
"It's a surrender," Sarah said. "They are giving up the house. You'll take on the remaining mortgage, which is tiny, and the property is yours. We can drop the civil suit, but the criminal assault charges against your father will still proceed. It’s out of our hands anyway; the state picked it up."
"What happens to her?" I asked.
"She moves into a cheap apartment, or a shelter. She has nothing left."
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I thought about the night she stood on the porch in her silk robe, watching my blood drip onto the concrete, smiling as my son cried.
"Draw up the paperwork," I said. "I'll take the house."
