The first settlement discussion took place several weeks later.<\/p>\n
My attorney explained the options.<\/p>\n
We could continue with the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
We could negotiate repayment.<\/p>\n
We could ask the court to preserve the condominium interest while the case continued.<\/p>\n
I listened.<\/p>\n
I asked questions.<\/p>\n
I took notes.<\/p>\n
I did not ask whether Mom would forgive me.<\/p>\n
I did not ask whether Vanessa would speak to me again.<\/p>\n
Those questions no longer seemed relevant.<\/p>\n
The money had been taken.<\/p>\n
The records showed where it went.<\/p>\n
The court would decide what happened next.<\/p>\n
My attorney said the other side had begun producing documents.<\/p>\n
Some of them confirmed what we already knew.<\/p>\n
Others showed that the financial problems were worse than my family had admitted.<\/p>\n
The condominium had been purchased with money that passed through several accounts.<\/p>\n
The property was not an innocent mistake.<\/p>\n
It had been part of a plan.<\/p>\n
I sat quietly while he explained the records.<\/p>\n
I had suspected that.<\/p>\n
But hearing it confirmed was different.<\/p>\n
The next time Mom called, I answered.<\/p>\n
She said she wanted to talk about the house.<\/p>\n
I asked whether she had spoken to her attorney.<\/p>\n
She said she had.<\/p>\n
She said the mortgage was current.<\/p>\n
I asked how.<\/p>\n
She said she had borrowed money.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
She said she had refinanced the house.<\/p>\n
I looked down at my notes.<\/p>\n
For years, she had told me the house was in danger.<\/p>\n
Now she had found a way to keep it.<\/p>\n
I asked whether she understood that the money she had received from me had been used for other things.<\/p>\n
She said she had not known everything Vanessa was doing.<\/p>\n
I asked whether she had known about the ring.<\/p>\n
She was quiet.<\/p>\n
Then she said she had helped Vanessa.<\/p>\n
I asked whether she had known about the condominium.<\/p>\n
She said it had been an investment.<\/p>\n
I asked whether she had known about the money that came from my account.<\/p>\n
She did not answer.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
Finally, she said, "I thought you could afford it."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
That was the sentence she had used at the wedding.<\/p>\n
The sentence she had said while smiling at the guests.<\/p>\n
I had heard it before.<\/p>\n
I had heard it in every request.<\/p>\n
I had heard it in every emergency.<\/p>\n
I had heard it in every promise that I would be repaid.<\/p>\n
I had never understood how much it meant.<\/p>\n
It meant that my ability to earn money had become more important than my right to decide what happened to it.<\/p>\n
I told her I could not continue the conversation.<\/p>\n
She asked whether I would forgive her.<\/p>\n
I said I did not know.<\/p>\n
Then I hung up.<\/p>\n
The next week, my attorney told me that the records supported a repayment agreement.<\/p>\n
Mom had agreed to return most of the money.<\/p>\n
The remaining amount would be paid through a court-enforced schedule.<\/p>\n
Interest would be included.<\/p>\n
Vanessa's condominium interest would be transferred as part of the settlement.<\/p>\n
I listened to the terms.<\/p>\n
I did not feel happy.<\/p>\n
I did not feel like I had won.<\/p>\n
I felt as though I had finally been allowed to put something down.<\/p>\n
The process was not finished.<\/p>\n
There were still documents to sign.<\/p>\n
There were still deadlines.<\/p>\n
There were still questions about the money that had moved through Vanessa's company.<\/p>\n
But the central issue was no longer being denied.<\/p>\n
The money had been taken.<\/p>\n
And it was going to be returned.<\/p>\n
Source: kaylestore.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The first settlement discussion took place several weeks later. My attorney explained the options. We could continue with the lawsuit. We could negotiate repayment. We could ask the court to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sharestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10801,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10788\/revisions\/10801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onesharedstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nClick here to continue reading: PART 8: The Messages That Survived, and the Day I Realized My Family Could No Longer Call It a Misunderstanding<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"