Corbin had arranged it with an attorney he said his company used.
At the time, I had signed from Kuala Lumpur during a video call.
I barely remembered doing it.
“What could he do with this?”
“Potentially refinance.”
“Open certain accounts.”
“Execute property-related documents.”
“Possibly move funds depending on how banks interpreted it.”
My stomach turned.
“Sell the condo?”
Audrey looked at me.
“Maybe.”
I stared at her.
“You’re saying he could have sold our home without telling me?”
“I’m saying we need the current title.”
She picked up the phone.
Within twenty minutes, someone from her office had pulled Cook County property records.
Audrey turned her monitor toward me.
My name was still there.
So was Corbin’s.
Relief came too fast.
Then she clicked another document.
A recorded mortgage.
Not the original one.
A newer one.
Fourteen months old.
“What is that?”
Audrey read the first page.
“It appears the property was refinanced.”
I stared at her.
“He never told me.”
“I assumed.”
“How much?”
She scrolled.
The principal balance made my mouth go dry.
“Six hundred and forty thousand?”
Our remaining mortgage should have been less than four hundred.
Audrey didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
I stood up.
“No.”
She remained calm.
“Sariah.”
“No.”
I walked toward the window.
“We bought that condo for seven hundred and ten.”
“We had already paid down almost two hundred thousand before I left.”
“I sent him money every month.”
My voice cracked.
“Where did six hundred and forty come from?”
Audrey looked at the document.
“The refinance appears to have included cash out.”
“How much?”
She kept reading.
“About two hundred and twenty-eight thousand after fees and payoff adjustments.”
I turned around.
I felt physically sick.
“He pulled more than two hundred thousand dollars out of our condo.”
“Yes.”
“Using my power of attorney.”
“It appears so.”
I sat down again because my knees felt unreliable.
For three years, I had lived thousands of miles away.
Worked six-day weeks.
Skipped holidays.
Missed my mother’s sixtieth birthday.
Watched friends have children through video calls.
And Corbin had used part of what we built to extract cash from our home.
Audrey closed the file.
“We need to trace where the proceeds went.”
I laughed once.
“Let me guess.”
“You think the woman.”
“And the child.”
Audrey studied me.
“You don’t know who they are yet.”
“I know what they looked like.”
“That isn’t the same.”
She was right.
I hated that.
At 2:15, I checked my phone.
Corbin had sent another message.
Long day. Wish you were here.
I stared at it.
Then Audrey said, “Do not confront him yet.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because if there are undisclosed accounts, we want them where they are.”
I looked at her.
“You think he’ll move money?”
