“Helen,” I said, my voice completely flat, completely devoid of any daughterly warmth. “I’m looking at a foreclosure sign on my front lawn. And I’m looking at a $5 million wire transfer to your joint account.”
The background noise of the country club suddenly seemed very quiet. The line went dead silent for three agonizing seconds.
“I need you and Arthur at the house,” I stated, the command echoing in the silent office. “Right now.”
I didn’t offer them a drink when they arrived. I didn’t even meet them in the foyer. I remained seated behind my heavy oak desk in the home office, the printed 50-page Vanguard National Bank mortgage dossier resting squarely in the center of the blotter.
Through the large bay window, I watched them pull up the driveway.
They weren’t driving their usual sensible sedan. They pulled up in a brand-new dealer-plated Bentley Continental GT, the dark sapphire paint gleaming in the late afternoon sun. Helen stepped out wearing a diamond tennis bracelet that caught the light with blinding intensity. Arthur adjusted the cuffs of a bespoke linen suit.
And they didn’t look like people who were terrified of being caught committing a federal crime.
They looked like people who had just won the lottery.
My lottery.
They walked through the front door, their footsteps echoing down the hardwood hallway. They didn’t knock when they reached my office. When they stepped inside, neither of them looked remotely ashamed.
Arthur wore a relaxed, almost patronizing smirk. Helen immediately went to inspect a new abstract painting I had hung on the far wall, completely ignoring the suffocating tension in the room.
“You really need better lighting in here,” Helen commented, tracing the edge of the frame with a perfectly manicured finger. “It’s entirely too gloomy. You work too much. You’re forgetting how to live.”
“Five million dollars,” I stated.
My voice was completely flat, devoid of any fluctuation. I didn’t raise it. I didn’t need to. The sheer gravity of the number sucked the remaining air out of the room.