“With accurate bank records?”
“With piles of documents nobody understands.”
“The forensic accountant understood them.”
Brent glanced at the judge.
“We thought there had to be hidden money.”
“Yet you contacted a broker before confirming any hidden money existed.”
“I was protecting my family.”
“By planning to sell someone else’s home.”
He slammed his palm against the witness rail.
“She doesn’t even need it!”
The sound cracked through the courtroom.
The judge’s voice turned cold.
“Control yourself.”
Brent breathed heavily through his nose.
Elena let the silence settle before asking her final question.
“Mr.
Collins, did Mandy ever promise you, your wife, or your parents any ownership interest in the villa?”
“No.”
“Did she ever sign a deed, contract, trust, or loan agreement granting you an interest?”
“No.”
“Then the only basis for your claim was that you needed the property more than she did.”
He did not answer.
He did not need to.
My mother was called back to the stand.
She looked smaller than she had that morning.
The pearls at her ears trembled when she turned her head.
Elena asked whether she had known about Brent’s judgment.
“No.”
“Did Ashley tell you she intended to sell the villa?”
“No.”
“What did she tell you?”
My mother swallowed.
“She said Mandy had taken most of the inheritance.
She said the house was proof.”
“Did you ask the estate attorney whether that was true?”
“No.”
“Did you ask Mandy?”
My mother looked at me for the first time.
“She called me.”
“What did you tell her?”
Tears gathered in my mother’s eyes.
“I told her we had already signed statements.
I told her to give Ashley the house so the family would not be embarrassed.”
“And were those statements based on facts you had verified?”
“No.”
The word was barely audible.
My father’s testimony was shorter.
He admitted that Ashley had drafted most of his statement and told him where to sign.
He had never seen the will’s final accounting, despite claiming under oath that I received more than my share.
He said he believed Ashley because she sounded certain.
The judge asked him whether certainty was the same as evidence.
My father lowered his head.
“No, Your Honor.”
After closing arguments, the judge called a brief recess.
I remained at the defense table while my family gathered in the hallway.
My mother took two steps toward me, but Elena quietly moved beside my chair.
