Chapter 3: What Khloe Said
Khloe's champagne glass was still dripping when she said it.
"Mom signed something.
Before you bought the house.
You need to ask her what she agreed to."
The words landed wrong.
I looked at Harrison.
His jaw had tightened.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
Khloe's chin lifted.
Some of the panic had left her face, replaced by something calculated.
"Ask her," she said.
"Ask Mom what she signed two weeks before you wired the money."
Julian had found his footing again.
He set his drink on the porch railing and straightened his robe.
"There's a document," he said.
"Notarized.
It gives Khloe co-interest in any property purchased for the family's benefit.
Your mother agreed that any asset bought for her would be considered a family asset."
Harrison's voice was very controlled.
"That document has no legal standing against a recorded deed."
"That's for a judge to decide," Julian said.
"Not you."
He was smiling again.
Not the wide smile from earlier.
Something narrower.
More careful.
"We're not going anywhere tonight," he said.
"Not until this is resolved in court.
And that will take months."
The constable looked at Harrison.
Harrison looked at me.
I turned back to Khloe.
"Where is this document?"
"Safe," she said.
"Did Mom know what she was signing?"
Khloe's eyes moved sideways for just a fraction of a second.
That was enough.
"She knew," Khloe said.
"Look at me when you say that."
She looked at me.
"She knew."
I held her gaze for a long moment.
Then I stepped past her into the house.
The guests had gathered near the living room entrance, drinks in hand, watching.
A man in a blazer near the fireplace had his phone out.
I didn't care.
I walked through the living room, down the hall, and into the small bedroom near the garage where my mother had been sleeping.
The room smelled like the cedar sachets she had kept in her closet since I was a child.
Her Bible was on the nightstand.
A framed photo of me at my university graduation was propped against the lamp.
Everything else had been pushed to the edges — Julian's golf bags leaned against one wall, Khloe's storage boxes were stacked in the corner.
My mother's space in her own house had been reduced to a single bed and a nightstand.
I stood there for a moment.
Then I took out my phone and called the hotel.
"I need to speak with my mother.
Room 214."
She answered on the second ring.
"Natalie?
Is everything all right?"
"Mom." I kept my voice steady.
"I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth.
Did you sign any document before I bought the house?
Something Khloe gave you?"
Silence.
A long silence.
"Mom."
"She said it was just a family agreement," she said quietly.
"She said it meant nothing legally.
She said it was just so she wouldn't feel like a guest."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"Did you read it?"
Another pause.
"She said it was standard."
"Did you read it?"
"Natalie, I didn't have my glasses.
Khloe read it to me.
She said—"
"Okay." I closed my eyes for one second.
"Okay, Mom.
Don't worry.
Get some rest."
I ended the call and stood in the small room that smelled like cedar and old photographs.
Then I walked back down the hall.
Harrison was waiting near the front door.
The constable stood beside him.
Julian and Khloe were on the porch, watching me come through the house.
"She didn't read it," I said to Harrison, quietly enough that only he heard.
He nodded once.
"Then we have a problem," he said.
"And a solution.
But not tonight."
Julian heard the word *tonight* and his smile returned.
"Smart man," he said.
"Come back when you have something real."
I looked at Julian.
"I'll be back," I said.
"Bring the document."
May you like
His smile stayed in place.
He should have wondered why I wasn't more afraid.
