There had been credit cards. Private loans. A failed investment in a sports bar Brent had never mentioned. Money borrowed from my parents “temporarily” and never returned. When my father’s health scare two years earlier had forced him to slow down, Brent had stepped in to “help with paperwork,” which apparently meant discovering every possible way to attach himself to assets he did not own.
“He tried to use my signature,” Dad said.
“Did he forge it?”
Dad closed his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
But his face said he did.
I sat back.
“So while Mom was calling my children ungrateful, Brent was trying to borrow against the house I saved.”
Dad nodded.
“And you’re only dealing with it now because my attorney found it.”
He did not defend himself.
That was new too.
“Your mother believes Brent panicked,” he said. “She thinks I should give him time to explain.”
