“What’s left?”
“The business has been technically bankrupt for three years. They have debts with suppliers in Europe. They total more than two million dollars.”
I felt the air escape me.
“Two million…”
“And that’s just with suppliers. They also owe the bank. They mortgaged the company four years ago to cover losses. They couldn’t pay. The bank is in the process of foreclosure.”
He put another document in front of me. It was a notice of judicial auction.
“What about the house?” I asked. “The house where Brenda lives.”
Gerald pulled out more papers.
“The house is also mortgaged twice. The first mortgage was six years ago, the second two years ago. They owe approximately $800,000. The bank has already initiated the eviction process. They have six months, maybe less.”
I stared at the documents, unable to process what I was seeing.
“But… but they live like rich people. The furniture, the clothes, the cars.”
“A façade,” Gerald said, taking off his glasses to clean them. “It’s all appearances. Robert’s car is leased and he is three months behind on payments. The family credit cards are maxed out. Carol owes money even at the beauty salon.”
“How is that possible? How did they get to this?”
“Robert inherited the company from his father eight years ago. Apparently, Mr. Sutton was a good administrator. He had contacts, reputation, experience. When he died, Robert tried to continue the business, but he had neither the talent nor the discipline of his father. He started making bad deals, trusting the wrong people, spending more than he brought in. And Carol… Carol comes from a family that had money decades ago, but they have nothing left. She lives on appearances. She keeps going to her clubs, her dinners, pretending that everything is fine. But the truth is they are drowning in debt.”
I looked at the photographs again. The house, the company, everything was a lie.
“There’s something else,” Gerald said in a softer voice. “Something about your daughter.”
“What about Brenda?”
He pulled out a bank receipt.
“For the past five years, Brenda has been transferring money from her personal account to the company’s account. Small amounts at first—$500, $1,000. But in the last year, the transfers increased. Last month, she transferred $3,000.”
“Where did she get that money from?”
“The transfers you were sending her from New York.”
The world stopped.
“What?”
“Every month you sent her money for her to use for her well-being, I imagine. But she was transferring it directly to the company to cover expenses, to pay debts, to maintain the illusion that everything was fine.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
