Chapter 4 - The House He Tried to Spend
Summer opened the envelope.
Andy stopped fighting Robert.
That frightened her.
Inside was a refinance application connected to their Nashville house.
Summer recognized the address instantly.
She also recognized the estimated value.
$486,000.
Current mortgage balance.
$212,000.
Requested cash-out refinance.
$150,000.
Her hands began to shake.
Monica spoke quietly.
“My company’s verification department received this because it was included in the asset package for the vehicle application.”
Summer looked up.
“You’re saying he tried to borrow one hundred fifty thousand dollars against our house?”
Robert corrected gently.
“Against your equity.”
The word your mattered.
Summer had purchased the house three years before marrying Andy.
Later, after their wedding, she had added him to some household accounts.
But not the deed.
Her father had insisted.
“Never give away what you cannot afford to lose,” he had told her.
Andy knew the house remained Summer’s separate property.
He had complained about it for years.
But the refinance document listed him as co-owner.
Summer turned the page.
There was her signature again.
Fake.
The room became silent.
“How?” she whispered.
Andy finally sat down.
His shoulders sagged.
“Summer.”
“How?”
“I can explain.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I need you to listen.”
She placed the refinance application in front of him.
“I am listening.”
Andy looked around the room.
Perhaps he finally understood that there was nowhere left to perform.
No client.
No supervisor.
No admiring stranger.
Only people who knew him.
“I made some mistakes.”
Linda gave a bitter laugh.
Evelyn said, “Mistakes?”
Andy rubbed his forehead.
“When the company moved me into the new position, I thought it would lead to bigger accounts.”
Robert said, “It didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“They changed the compensation plan.”
“Or you were under review.”
Andy glared at him.
Summer cut in.
“For what?”
Andy did not answer.
Robert had apparently expected that.
He opened the folder again.
“Expense irregularities.”
Summer turned slowly.
Andy whispered, “They weren’t irregularities.”
“What were they?”
“Client development expenses.”
“Meaning?”
“Meals. Events. Travel.”
Summer remembered him coming home smelling like restaurants.
“How much?”
Andy shook his head.
“Summer—”
“How much?”
“Maybe twenty.”
“Twenty dollars?”
He looked down.
“Thousand.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Summer almost smiled because the alternative was screaming.
“You spent twenty thousand dollars entertaining clients?”
“It generated business.”
“Then why are you being investigated?”
Andy stood.
“Because someone at work hates me.”
Robert said, “That’s convenient.”
Andy rounded on him.
“You think because you’re an accountant you understand sales?”
“No,” Robert replied. “I understand numbers.”
Andy laughed sharply.
“Numbers don’t explain relationships.”
“No. They explain missing money.”
Summer watched her husband.
His charm was disappearing minute by minute.
Underneath it was fear.
Underneath fear, desperation.
And beneath desperation—
something else.
Entitlement.
Andy genuinely believed that if he could just obtain enough money, reality would eventually reorganize itself around him.
“How much total?” Summer asked.
Andy looked at her.
“How much debt?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Try.”
“Maybe ninety.”
Robert asked, “Personal?”
Andy nodded.
“Cards?”
“Yes.”
“Loans?”
“Yes.”
“Business lines?”
Andy hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Taxes?”
Another hesitation.
Summer stared.
“Taxes?”
“I’m handling it.”
“How much?”
“Summer.”
“How much?”
“About thirty.”
The numbers accumulated in her mind.
Ninety thousand personal.
Thirty thousand taxes.
Forty thousand taken from Evelyn.
A sixty-five-thousand transfer pending.
A proposed one-hundred-fifty-thousand refinance.
Possible vehicle debt.
Expense issues at work.
Summer felt as if she were watching the outline of her marriage turn into a financial crime scene.
“And you gave me seventy-five dollars.”
Andy closed his eyes.
“I needed liquidity.”
The word was so absurd that Linda laughed out loud.
Not because anything was funny.
Because some sentences were too offensive for silence.
Evelyn stood.
“I want every dollar back.”
Andy looked at her.
“Mom, please.”
“You took money your father left me.”
“I was going to replace it.”
“You always say that.”
Everyone turned.
Summer frowned.
“Always?”
Evelyn looked away.
Andy froze.
Summer felt the next secret before anyone spoke.
“Evelyn.”
The older woman sat slowly.
“When Andy was twenty-four, he borrowed money from us.”
“How much?”
“Eight thousand.”
“For what?”
“A business.”
Andy muttered, “It failed.”
Evelyn continued.
“At twenty-seven, it was twelve thousand.”
Summer looked at Andy.
“At thirty-one?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Another fifteen.”
Summer’s stomach tightened.
They had been married then.
“You never told me.”
Andy snapped, “Because it had nothing to do with you.”
“I was your wife.”
“It was my parents’ money.”
“And this time?”
He had no answer.
Evelyn looked at Summer.
“I’m sorry.”
Summer shook her head.
“You didn’t do this.”
“I helped him hide what he was.”
That landed harder.
Andy slammed his fist onto the table.
“Stop talking like I’m some criminal!”
Mark spoke calmly.
“You used financial access your mother says she didn’t authorize.”
Andy pointed toward him.
“You don’t know what she agreed to.”
Evelyn turned.
“Yes, I do.”
Her voice was steady now.
“I did not agree.”
Andy stared at her.
She stared back.
For the first time that night, Summer saw him lose his mother.
Not because of money.
Because she stopped protecting him.
Summer picked up the refinance papers.
“Is this already approved?”
Monica shook her head.
“No. Preliminary review only. They still need title verification.”
“So he couldn’t have completed it?”
“Not without your involvement.”
Andy said quickly, “See?”
Summer turned.
“See what?”
“Nothing happened.”
“You forged my signature.”
“It was digital.”
“That does not make it less forged.”
“I was going to talk to you.”
“When?”
“After approval.”
Summer laughed once.
“You were going to ask my permission after pretending I already gave it?”
Andy stared at her.
No answer.
Robert began stacking documents.
“We need to secure Summer’s credit.”
Mark nodded.
“And Evelyn needs to revoke every authorization.”
Andy glared at them.
“You’re all acting like I’m not sitting here.”
Summer looked at him.
“That’s because you spent months acting like we weren’t.”
Andy’s face tightened.
Summer removed her wedding ring.
Everyone noticed.
She placed it on the table.
Andy stared at it.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I know what you did financially. I don’t know what else you did.”
Andy’s eyes flickered.
Summer saw it.
So did Linda.
“What else?” Linda asked.
Andy stood.
“There is nothing else.”
Summer remembered Monica.
The caller ID.
The car.
The hidden accounts.
“Then give me your phone.”
Andy laughed.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m entitled to privacy.”
“So was my signature.”
Silence.
Summer held out her hand.
“Phone.”
“No.”
Evelyn said, “Andrew.”
“No!”
He stepped backward.
“I’m done with this circus.”
Summer looked toward the door.
“You can leave.”
His face changed.
“What?”
“This is my house.”
Andy stared.
“You’re throwing me out?”
“For tonight.”
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“We’re married.”
“And the deed is mine.”
Robert looked down, hiding what might have been satisfaction.
Andy grabbed his jacket.
“You’re going to regret humiliating me.”
Summer’s eyes hardened.
“I didn’t spend forty thousand dollars on wheels.”
He walked toward the hallway.
Then stopped.
Turned.
Looked at Summer.
“You think these people are on your side?”
Summer frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Andy looked at Robert.
Then Mark.
Finally Evelyn.
“One of them knew.”
Summer’s blood went cold.
“Knew what?”
Andy smiled.
It was not smug now.
It was wounded.
Dangerous.
“Knew about the money.”
Evelyn stared at Linda.
Linda stared at Robert.
Robert stared at Mark.
Summer looked from face to face.
“Who?”
Andy opened the front door.
“Ask them.”
Then he left.
The door slammed.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Summer turned toward the table.
“Which one of you knew?”
Linda shook her head immediately.
“Not me.”
Robert said, “I knew nothing until this week.”
Summer looked at Mark.
He hesitated.
That was enough.
Evelyn whispered, “Mark?”
Mark rubbed his forehead.
“There’s something I didn’t tell you.”
Summer’s heart began pounding.
“About Andy?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you known?”
“Not about the transfer.”
“Then what?”
Mark looked toward the front windows, making sure Andy was gone.
“Six months ago, Andy came to my bank.”
Summer stopped breathing.
“What did he want?”
“A loan.”
“For the business?”
Mark shook his head.
“No.”
“For what?”
Mark reached into his coat.
He pulled out a folded copy of an old application.
Summer saw Andy’s name.
Then another name beneath it.
Not Summer.
A woman’s name.
Monica Densmore.
Summer looked up.
May you like
Monica went completely white.
And Mark whispered, “That isn’t the Monica standing in this room.”
