Chapter 2: Thirty-Seven Calls and One That Changed Everything
That evening, my phone lit up thirty-seven times.
I counted.
I didn't answer a single one.
Around nine o'clock, one text finally came through from Mark.
"Mom.
Harper's dad had a connection at the condo board.
He's filing a formal complaint against you for 'hostile and aggressive conduct toward guests.' They're saying you had them r3moved under false pretenses.
They want a hearing."
I set the phone face-down on the balcony table and listened to the ocean for a long moment.
Then I picked it back up and typed four words.
*"Let them file it."*
Mark responded within seconds.
"You don't understand.
Harold knows people.
He's already called someone on the board.
Harper says if you don't apologize by tomorrow morning, they're going to make things very uncomfortable for you here."
I almost laughed.
The man had been inside my home for less than two hours.
He hadn't paid a single cent toward that unit.
And now he was calling board members.
I put the phone down again.
But at 11:14 p.m., a different number called.
One I didn't recognize.
When I answered, the voice on the other end wasn't Harold.
It wasn't Harper.
It was a woman I hadn't spoken to in over three years.
And the first thing she said made my blood run c0ld.
"Barbara…
I think it's time you knew what Mark did with the money."
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What did Mark do?
And who is this woman Barbara hasn't spoken to in three years?
The full truth is darker than anyone expected.
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