Page 21 of That One Night
“A hundred dollars? A thousand?More?” She knew it was more. Farm equipment and livestock didn’t come cheap.
“I really have no idea.” Her mom started to cry. “And does it matter? He’s going to be your husband. He wanted to help. Family helps family. He just didn’t want to worry you. Asked us not to say a thing.”
Of course he didn’t want her to know. This was all a power play to him. Another way to show her how much control he had. “Mom, I need to find it all. The paperwork, the amounts.”
“But why?” Her mom didn’t seem to get it.
“Because we have to declare and resolve any debts on the farm before we put it on the market.”
“Trenton never told us that.”
Emery swallowed hard. “No, he probably didn’t. But you can’t sell the house without resolving this.”
“Maybe you could speak to him,” her mom said, twisting her bracelet around her wrist. “Ask him if he could sign away the debts early.”
Emery winced. Her head was starting to hurt. “I don’t think I can do that.”
“Why not?”
She had no answer to that. At least not one that wouldn’t cause more problems than it would solve. “I’ll speak to him,” Emery agreed, because right now there was no other way. “Just find me that loan agreement. Please.”
“Okay.” Her mom nodded. “I’ll look this afternoon.”
“Thank you.”
“Why did you loan my parents money without telling me?” Emery asked Trenton later that afternoon when she’d finally brought herself to call him.
Her mom had found the paperwork in an envelope in her dad’s dresser. She’d handed it to Emery, her eyes full of embarrassment. And for the last hour she’d seethed every time she looked at it.
“Hello to you too. How are you?” His voice was smooth.
“The loan?” she asked again. “Why did you give them so much money without telling me?”
Because now she knew how much it was in total. Just shy of eighty thousand dollars.
“Your parents asked me not to,” Trenton replied, echoing her mom’s words of earlier. “It was all going to be written off once we were married. And once I took control of my trust fund,” Trenton continued. “Now that’s changed, of course.”
“I’m going to need you to sign the lien away,” she told him. “We need it closed before I can put the farm on the market.”
“You want me to sign it away before it’s repaid?” he asked. There was a frown in his tone.
“Yes. We’ll pay the money back once the farm is sold.”
“But how do I know you’ll do that?” he asked her.
Annoyance rushed through her. “Because I’m giving you my word.”
“You also gave your word that you’d marry me,” he pointed out. “And look what happened there.”
“And you agreed to be faithful,” she retorted. It was one thing agreeing to do this stupid charade just to keep their parents happy. Another to know he held something over her mom. “Please don’t be difficult,” she said softly. “I just need this thing to be resolved.”
“I’m not being difficult. I’m a businessman. Speaking of which, I’m late for a meeting.”
“Trenton…” she started to argue back, but he’d already hung up. All that was left was a buzzing on the line and the fury rushing through her body.
Letting out a sharp cry, she threw her phone onto the floor, the crack of plastic against hardwood echoing through the quiet room.
Her chest heaved as she paced across the kitchen, fists clenched at her sides. Every part of her was shaking with anger and frustration.
