I Gave Him Half My Liver, Then He Sold My Father's House novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Solicitor Chooses a Side

Gregor sees Cormac first.

His mouth stops moving. The solicitor has just entered the drawing room with a withdrawal notice in one hand, and he has placed it in Elena's open file before turning toward us.

The paper lies beside the acknowledgment I refused to sign. Cormac's name sits beneath the firm's crest. The date is today.

Through the records-room door, I see the buyers near the marble fireplace, their coats still on. The estate agent holds her folder against her chest. Gregor stands by the window, speaking to the older buyer in a low, urgent voice.

Elena reads the first line, then looks at Cormac. 'You are withdrawing from the buyers' transaction?'

'I am withdrawing from acting on it in its current form,' Cormac says. 'My clients remain entitled to independent advice. I will not permit my name to sit beneath documents whose central declaration cannot be defended.'

He speaks to Elena, but his attention stays on me.

I record that before the room hears anything else.

Elena closes the file halfway. 'Your clients will be pleased.'

'They were not pleased when I explained that a completion statement had been signed on the basis that no third party had asserted an interest, while a third party was standing in the house and refusing the release.'

The younger buyer looks through the doorway. His wife follows his gaze. The agent turns as well.

Gregor steps away from the window. 'This is an internal matter.'

Cormac walks past me and stops at my shoulder, leaving enough space for me to move. He does not touch me.

'It stopped being internal when the sale was presented as ready for completion,' he says.

Gregor's face hardens. 'You are withdrawing because she has made a scene.'

'No. I am withdrawing because the documents do not support the ownership story you gave the buyers.'

The agent lowers her folder. Her sympathy had already shifted when Gregor called me a cleaner. Now she lets it show.

She turns to the buyers. 'I told you the title position was unusual.'

'You told us the seller had inherited the property,' the older buyer says.

'That is what I was told.'

Gregor points at me. 'She is my former cleaner. She has been harassing my family since she left the house.'

The agent looks at my coat, then at the healing pull beneath it where the fabric crosses my side. She has heard him say cleaner before. She has also watched me answer every question without raising my voice.

'You said she was a distant relative this morning,' she says.

Gregor's hand drops.

Elena brings the file from the records room and sets it on the hall table. 'You explained that to Gregor's solicitor?'

'In precise terms,' Cormac says. 'Mr Vale preferred to discuss the history of his marriage.'

'He does that when the paperwork becomes inconvenient,' I say.

Cormac looks at me. His answer comes without hesitation.

'Yes. He does.'

For the first time since I came through that door, I feel the room give me something back.

The younger buyer steps away from Gregor. His wife closes the folder in her hands.

Elena checks the signature block on the notice. 'This makes you responsible for nothing further on the buyers' side.'

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