The third paragraph demanded immediate wage garnishment to pay off a made-up debt of fourteen thousand dollars.

At the bottom was a sprawling signature from a compliance officer named David Sterling.

That company had no David Sterling.

A yellow sticky note was stuck to the bottom margin of the page.

It was written in my father’s sharp block printing.

It said, Mail on the 15th by certified courier if she doesn’t sign the deed.

Whatever hope I had left that his threats were just something said in a flash of anger disappeared.

This was blackmail, planned out and written down.