For several seconds, I stood there staring at him, expecting the conversation to turn joking, but his expression remained cold and serious.
“I paid for the house with my own accounts,” I said quietly.
Patrick crossed his arms and replied with a mocking smile: “Then prove it to me.”
The next morning, Patrick left the house early in his dark sedan and announced that he was going to the airport to pick up his parents, Deborah and Harold Sullivan, as well as his sister Melissa.
After he left by car, I opened my laptop in the empty living room and began to review all the documents related to the purchase of the property, including the title deed, closing documents, and bank transfer confirmations.
My name was on every page.
However, upon further examination of the financial documents, I noticed something deeply troubling.
About a week before the closing date, Patrick had persuaded me to simplify our finances by granting him limited access to a joint account that we intended to use for household expenses, and since I had complete trust in him, I had accepted without hesitation.
I then discovered a series of large withdrawals and transfers that had nothing to do with the purchase of the house.
Ten thousand dollars had been transferred in a single day.
Twenty-five thousand per day.
Each transaction was accompanied by a simple note titled “family support”.
My heart was pounding when I called the bank to ask them to confirm what I was seeing on my screen, and the representative calmly explained that Patrick had indeed transferred money from the account using the authorization I had given him.
