“Including all accrued interest and the contractually agreed upon late penalties, the total comes to four million three hundred thousand dollars.”
Carolina’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.
Tyler nearly fumbled his glass, his hand shaking so violently that the liquor splashed onto his tailored blazer.
Suddenly, the room was suffocatingly quiet, and if humiliation ever had a distinct sound, it was the sound of that heavy, judgmental silence.
Tyler swallowed hard, his throat bobbing as he struggled to find a voice.
“There must be a massive mistake with your records,” he stammered.
“There is no mistake to be found here,” I replied, looking directly at him.
Carolina marched toward me, her heels clicking aggressively against the floorboards.
“Lauren, will you kindly explain what that man on the phone is talking about?”
I looked her dead in the eye, refusing to look down or apologize for existing, let alone for my success.
“He is speaking about the loan that Tyler begged me for last year, and he is confirming what I am prepared to do if he does not stop treating me like I am the miserable, failed person in this family.”
Even I found it hard to believe that this moment of reckoning had finally arrived at their front door.
Chapter 2: The Default
Carolina looked at me with pure shock, as if I had just taken a lighter to her curtains and set her entire house on fire with a single sentence.
“That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard,” she barked. “My son would never be desperate enough to ask you for a single cent.”
Tyler reacted far too quickly, his defensive instincts kicking into high gear before his mother could even finish her sentence.
“It was not a formal loan in the way you are thinking, it was just a bit of temporary support to get me through a rough patch.”