Mom's eyes brimmed with tears, and her hand went for the other bank card in her pocket, ready to spend her own retirement savings just to make the trouble go away.
I clamped down hard on her wrist.
We couldn't back down.
The moment we gave in today, these two leeches would drain my parents dry for the rest of their lives.
"Get out!"
Dad stepped in front of us, planting himself between Stewart and the two of us.
He jabbed a finger at Stewart's face.
"This wedding's off! Get the hell out of here!"
Right then, a few cars pulled up outside our door.
Stewart's relatives.
They'd been planning to head straight to the new place to tour it and celebrate. It never crossed their minds that something had gone wrong with the purchase.
"What's going on here?"
"Weren't they buying a house? Why's everyone shouting?"
"Lucy, why do you look so awful?"
A text alert chimed. A private message from the agent.
【Miss Pruitt, have you and Mr. Dickerson worked things out? The sellers say not only will they keep the twenty-thousand-dollar deposit, you'll also owe a penalty fee of ten percent of the total price.】
Mom had clearly seen it too.
"Lucy, stop this, please. Just send the money over…"
Seeing his chance, Stewart hurried over at once, all fake generosity.
"Look at the state you've got your mother into. Don't drag your parents out onto the street to embarrass themselves like this!"
I thought about how Dad, trying to save a little more, wouldn't even run the air conditioning in summer.
How Mom, to pinch pennies, hadn't bought herself a single new outfit in three years.
"Stewart, I'm asking you one last time." My voice was frighteningly calm.
"Right now, this second, put the name on the deed back. There's still time."
A flicker of hesitation crossed Stewart's face. Then he glanced at Melinda behind him, standing there looking so pitiful.
His answer came without a shred of doubt:
"No way! Lucy, I can't let Mel suffer. For the sake of the bigger picture, just swallow this one, all right?"
I drew a deep breath and stopped sparring with Stewart entirely.
I didn't look at him again.
I took out my phone, and in front of every one of his relatives, I tapped the option.
【Cancel the home-purchase escrow account】.
The next second, a crisp system chime came from the phone.
【Operation successful.】
The expression on Stewart's face froze solid.
