agreement.
Mom reached my assistant.
“I need to report Emily Carter,” she snapped. “She’s unstable and abusing her family.”
My assistant transferred the call.
To me.
“Emily Carter, managing partner,” I said.
Mom stopped breathing.
I continued,
“Is there something you’d like to report?”
She hung up.
That afternoon, Mr. Hale called with the final piece.
“The bank reviewed the trust deed,” he said. “Their fraud department has frozen the equity line. They’re opening an investigation into the application.”
I closed my eyes.
I had given my family ten years
