“It isn’t mine.”
She stared at the phone.
Colin continued.
“Juniper Table belongs to Renee.”
Marjorie’s face changed.
At first, I thought she was simply embarrassed.
Then I realized she genuinely did not understand.
“What do you mean it belongs to Renee?”
“I mean exactly that.”
“But you told me—”
“Mom.”
“No. You told me you had rights to it.”
“Please stop talking.”
Marjorie looked at me, then back at the phone.
“You said the only problem was that Renee refused to put your name where it legally belonged.”
Colin said nothing.
That silence told me more than his words had.
Marjorie’s voice sharpened.
“Then what are those papers you gave me?”
Colin sounded panicked now.
“Why did you bring those there?”
Her mouth fell open.
“You told me to!”
“I told you to give them to Renee privately.”
“You said she only needed to sign them so everything would finally be properly documented.”
I slowly reached for the leather folder.
Colin said, “Renee, don’t sign anything yet.”
I almost laughed.
“Now you’re telling me not to sign?”
“Let me explain.”
I opened the papers again.
This time I read every line I could understand.
And then I found it.
Fifty percent.
The document would transfer a fifty-percent membership interest in Juniper Table to Colin.
I felt cold.
“You wanted half.”
“It’s not as simple as that.”
“It looks very simple.”
Marjorie stared at him through the phone as if he were standing in front of her.
“You told me she was keeping your share from you.”
Colin groaned.
“Mom, please.”
“No. Did you lie to me?”
That was the first moment I saw Marjorie realize she had also been used.
Not innocently.
She had still come there to pressure me.
But Colin had clearly told her only the version that made him look wronged.
I asked, “Why do you need fifty percent of my restaurant?”
He hesitated.
“My company is having problems.”
“I know that much.”
“They’re worse than I told you.”
“How much worse?”
He didn’t answer.
Marjorie suddenly said, “Is this about the bank?”
“Mom.”
I turned toward the phone.
“What bank?”
Colin was silent for several seconds.
Then he said, “My lender won’t extend the company’s credit line.”
“And?”
“I need stronger assets behind me.”
I looked at the transfer agreement.
“You wanted to use Juniper Table.”
“I needed an ownership interest.”
“As collateral?”
“Not exactly.”
“As leverage with the bank?”
Another silence.
That was enough.
I closed the folder.
“So your company is failing, and instead of telling me, you tried to get me to give you half my restaurant.”
“I was trying to protect our future.”
“By lying to me?”
“I didn’t lie.”
Marjorie gave a bitter little laugh.
“You lied to me.”
Nobody expected that.
Colin didn’t respond.
Marjorie’s expression had gone from furious to humiliated.
“You told me Renee was refusing to recognize what was already yours. You never told me you owned nothing.”
“Because I knew you’d make it worse.”
Her mouth tightened.
“And yet you sent me here with the papers.”
He had no answer for that either.
For the first time that day, mother and son were no longer on the same side.
But I wasn’t interested in watching them fight.
I had another question.
“Colin, Dana is reviewing the restaurant accounts.”
Everything changed.
The silence on the phone became different.
“What do you mean?”
“She found transfers I didn’t authorize.”
“They’re business-related.”
“Whose business?”
He hesitated.
“Our business.”
“No. Which business?”
“Renee—”
“Did you move money from Juniper Table into your logistics company?”
Marjorie looked toward the phone.
“What money?”
Colin said, “It was temporary.”
My stomach tightened.
“How much?”
“It wasn’t supposed to stay out of the account.”
“How much?”
“I don’t have the exact figure.”
“I’m sure Dana will.”
“Renee, listen to me. I was going to replace everything once the company recovered.”
There it was.
Not a denial.
A confession disguised as an explanation.
Marjorie looked genuinely startled.
“You took money from the restaurant?”
“Mom, stay out of this.”
Her face hardened.
“You had me come here and pressure her to sign documents, and now you’re telling me to stay out of it?”
I almost would have laughed if I hadn’t felt so sick.
I opened the folder of statements on my phone.
One charge stood out.
A luxury hotel.
Another was from a jewelry store.
I thought about Sabrina.
“Did you use restaurant money for her too?”
Colin didn’t answer.
I waited.
“Colin?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth would be new.”
Marjorie closed her eyes.
I continued.
“The hotel. The jewelry. Were those for Sabrina?”
His silence answered before his words did.
Finally, he said, “Some personal expenses got mixed in.”
Meredith actually whispered, “Oh my God.”
I stared at the phone.
“How much did you take?”
“I told you, I don’t know the exact amount.”
“Give me an estimate.”
“Renee.”
“How much?”
His voice dropped.
“Maybe sixty or seventy thousand.”
I felt my throat tighten.
Marjorie turned pale again.
“Seventy thousand dollars?”
Colin snapped.
“Mom, you are not helping.”
She stared at the phone.
“I didn’t know about any of that.”
I believed her.
Not because she deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Because she looked too shocked to be pretending.
Marjorie had known about Sabrina.
She had known Colin wanted me to sign something.
She had even agreed to help pressure me.
But she had not known he was taking money from my restaurant.
And she clearly hadn’t known he had no ownership at all.
Colin had lied differently to both of us.
To me, his company was going through a temporary rough patch.
To his mother, I was the selfish wife refusing to give him what already belonged to him.
Meanwhile, he had been moving money behind my back and preparing paperwork that could give him half the business.
I looked at my phone.
“Your access to the restaurant accounts ends today.”
“Renee, don’t do anything yet.”
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