I did not answer Sable’s question immediately. Instead, I told her to open the transaction file I had left on the dining table before the movers arrived. Inside were bank records showing three payments from Alden and Fern totaling $31,000. Rourke had described the money to them as a “family equity contribution” that would supposedly secure their permanent place in the villa. The problem was simple: Rourke had never owned a single percentage of my property, and neither had Sable.
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