David gave me the figure during a call coordinated with Sophia after the closing papers were obtained.

I wrote it on a clean page and placed it beside my recent valuation.

Five hundred and twelve thousand.

Forty-four thousand dollars separated the two.

A valuation was not a promise that any particular buyer would pay that amount.

I understood markets, condition adjustments, and negotiated prices.

But a discount on a sale I had never authorized was not something I was willing to explain away before I knew who had benefited.

The buyer was Northbridge Property Holdings.