I ended the recording.
Then I looked at them calmly.
“The money has moved,” I said. “But I didn’t pay off James’s debt.”
Three faces turned toward me.
“I bought it. The note belongs to me now. These aren’t fake forms. They’re enforceable legal guarantees. Your house and wages are collateral. And you just admitted on camera that you used my inheritance to finance James before.”
My mother made a choking sound.
My father went completely still.
“You can’t enforce that,” he said.
“Judges enforce contracts,” I replied.
James lunged for the papers. I stepped back.
“That,” I told him, “is the last time you ever reach for something that belongs to me.”
Then I pressed the remote in my pocket.
