Melissa handed me the envelope.
Inside were copies of three notices.
One from a supplier.
One from the state Department of Revenue.
And one from a law firm.
I read the first page.
Then the second.
The company did not owe $148,000.
That was only the debt Tyler had admitted.
The actual amount was closer to **$310,000**.
There were unpaid payroll taxes.
There was a lawsuit from a commercial client who had paid a large deposit for work that had never been completed.
There were vendor invoices Tyler had apparently altered before showing them to me.
And there was something else.
A line of credit.
Opened eighteen months earlier.
**$92,000.**
The guarantor name made my vision blur.
**Evelyn Mercer.**
My mother.
I looked up.
“You already guaranteed his debt.”
No one spoke.
Mom’s face seemed to shrink.
“How much of your house is tied to this?”
Aunt Diane whispered, “Evelyn?”
Mom said, “It isn’t what you think.”
“Then explain it.”
Tyler stepped between us.
“Mom helped me because that’s what family does.”
I looked at her.
“You used your house?”
She stared at the table.
“Yes.”
“How much equity?”
No answer.
“Mom.”
“Most of it.”
The room erupted.
Aunt Carol gasped.
Uncle Robert swore.
But I was staring at the invoice.
And suddenly I understood.
