“Yes.”
“And that you have technically been living without a lease for three years?”
Emily clenched her fists in her lap.
“Yes.”
“And that my client has the legal right to request immediate eviction, collect back rent, and sue for moral damages?”
At that, Emily looked up.
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“Yes, we know. We know everything.”
The silence that followed was thick.
Daniel cleared his throat.
“Mom, I listened to the recordings. All of them. All of them.”
His voice cracked.
“All seventeen. It took me four hours, and each one destroyed me a little more.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“I didn’t know,” Daniel continued, looking directly at me. “I had no idea about the things Emily was saying about you behind your back.”
“Daniel?”
Emily mumbled.
“No.”
He cut her off with a harshness I had never heard from him.
“You are not going to minimize this. Not now.”
