The Land My Father Left Me and the House That Disappeared
I walked back toward the edge of the cleared land, away from the noise of the hydraulic lifts.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was a text notification from my bank.
I opened the app, intending to authorize the second wire transfer for Nathan’s crew.
The screen loaded slowly, the spinning circle mocking my impatience.
When the balance screen finally appeared, I stopped breathing.
The numbers didn’t make sense.
I blinked, thinking the bright sunlight was playing tricks on my eyes.
The joint money market account, which should have held three hundred and forty thousand dollars, showed a balance of eighty-two dollars.
I tapped the screen repeatedly, forcing the transaction history to load.
A series of wire transfers had been executed over the last seventy-two hours.
One hundred thousand to an international wire service based in Rome.
Eighty-five thousand to a luxury yacht charter company in Amalfi.
Seventy thousand to a boutique destination wedding coordinator.
Richard had cleared out the savings we had built over fifteen years of marriage.
He was spending my children’s college fund to buy Valerie a white-sand wedding.