Corinne let the question hang in the humid air before answering. “Read the letterhead, Dad.”

Harold looked down at the paper again. This time, he read slowly. The document came from Meridian Holdings, the company that had purchased the mortgage on his house eight months earlier. But there was more. The same company had also acquired the loans connected to Preston’s gym and Dixon’s failing restaurant.

“You’ve been renting your own life from a stranger,” Corinne said quietly. “Except the stranger isn’t a stranger.”

Preston looked at Dixon. Dixon looked at their mother. Harold’s face slowly lost its color.

“I own Meridian,” Corinne finally said. “Every payment you three have made since October went into my account.”

Nobody spoke.

Harold stared at his daughter, the same daughter he had called a disgrace only moments earlier. Corinne slid another page across the table.

“That paper isn’t a bill,” she said.

Then she looked directly into her father’s eyes.

“It’s the part you’re really going to want to read.”