Page 32 of The Rogue

“I agree,” said Justice. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said. “It is.”

“I...”

“You would have gotten a notice in the mail.”

She always saw her mail. She always got notices. How had she not gotten this? She didn’t understand. Somehow, she had made a serious mistake. One that was making this whole thing more complicated.

The woman rubbed her temples, and then gave Rue an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I’ll give you the info that I have.”

The woman started printing papers off, and then she handed them to Rue.

“This isn’t a local bank.”

“No,” the woman said. “It’s a big mortgage company. They buy a lot of loans in bulk. Hopefully they still have your loan.”

“You’re kidding me, right? Someoneelsecan have my loan already?”

“It does happen,” the woman said.

Rue gripped the papers, and tried not to be rude. She knew that it wasn’t like the woman had caused the situation. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t like she had done it to Rue personally.

They walked out onto the street, and Rue dialed the number for the loan company immediately. “Hi—”

It was a recorded message. She pressed a zero and stood there tapping her feet while Justice looked at her.

“I’m on hold,” she said. A jaunty song started playing in her ear and it made her angrier.

Someone on the other end picked up. And Rue began to explain the situation.

“We don’t have your name in the paperwork.”

She let out a short breath, knowing that her explanations weren’t the best, and having to repeat it like this made it pretty clear to her she should havequestioned this before her grandmother passed, but it hadn’t seemed important. Now it did. Essential, even. “There was a reason... But in my grandmother’s will I am the beneficiary. It’s just that she didn’t have me switch the loan over—”

“It was being held as collateral. The bank has seized it because of the defaults on the loan. There’s an auction set for it at the end of February.”

“How is this moving so quickly?”

“It wasn’t really all that quickly. The loan was in default for a couple of years.”

“My grandmother didn’t tell me any of this.”

“I am sorry,” the woman said. “I don’t know what your grandmother did or didn’t tell you. But the house is being sold to cover the debt. It’s a cash auction.”

“I can’t even get a mortgage to get my house back?”

“No,” the woman said.

“But I...” And just suddenly, tears started to fall down Rue’s cheeks. Extremely angry tears. Because she was just so fed up. With all of this. She had no control, no choices. And none of it was her fault. “But I’m not the one that made this decision.”

“Your grandmother left you something that had some baggage,” the woman said, her voice apologetic but firm. “These things happen with inheritance. Sometimes they get seized because of unpaid property taxes. It’s a land mine.” She genuinely did sound sorry, and Rue knew that she didn’t have to stay on the phone with her.

It was an ironic thing to say, though.

Her grandmother had left her something with baggage.

Rue already knew that. It was her own mother.

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