“I don’t owe you a dime.” I held up another copy of the ledger.

“Thaddeus has the original digitized, and I’ve sent copies to the rest of the family.

If you touch my credit or my name, every relative you’ve spent years telling that I’m the ungrateful daughter will see exactly how you priced your own children.”

Chapter 16 — The Deadbolt

My mother went white.

“You showed that to the family?”

“To the same relatives you’ve been feeding your version to for thirty years.”

My father tried, then, to trade — he’d drop the refinance if I signed and “worked things out” with Lucienne.

I told him what I wanted instead: the $18,400 back, in writing, on a schedule, and Lucienne’s car off my credit within thirty days.

He said it was impossible.