Vivien looked at her.
Natalie did not lower it.
That was when Garrett understood he was no longer performing inside a family room.
There were witnesses.
There were recordings.
There were documents.
There was no mother smoothing it over, no father declaring it private, no sister absorbing the blow so everyone else could keep calling it complicated.
Garrett turned on Douglas.
“You said she still had the deed.”
Douglas’s mouth worked once before sound came out.
“I thought she did.”
“You thought?” Garrett snapped.
Vivien whispered, “Garrett, stop.”
But Garrett did not stop.
He looked like a man watching every rescue plan collapse at once.
His debts were still real.
The people calling him were still real.
But the farm was gone as an option.
