Chapter 10 - The Buyer Behind the Buyer
The hidden resale agreement changed Marissa.
Not legally at first.
Emotionally.
Her attorney showed her the document during discovery.
Rhett had already negotiated a $92,000 assignment fee tied to the parcel if Red Cedar acquired it.
Additional upside could follow.
Marissa’s name nowhere.
Then Broken Arrow.
Rhett had never paid his promised half of earnest deposit.
Marissa paid most.
Then a text to Kyle:
If Carter deal closes, I clear Norman, pocket assignment, and reset.
Kyle:
With Marissa?
Rhett:
No idea.
There.
No idea.
Marissa had been telling Tessa:
“We’ll all be somewhere else soon.”
She imagined Miles with her.
Possibly Tessa too? Her later notes suggested she knew custody would be difficult and had not formed a lawful plan. She was not preparing to abduct them.
She was fantasizing ahead of consequences.
Rhett was not even fantasizing about her.
Then Marissa changed plea posture.
She stopped claiming she was an equal business partner.
She admitted Rhett directed much of documentation.
Still:
She provided my records.
She knew I said no.
She coordinated title calls.
She lied to Tessa.
She left the children.
No escape.
Then she asked to see the kids.
Family court had issued temporary sole physical custody to me and limited Marissa to professionally supervised contact if therapists and child welfare approved.
Tessa said no initially.
Miles was an infant.
Would visits with Marissa benefit him?
A court-appointed child specialist recommended brief supervised contact could occur because Marissa was his biological mother, provided no safety concerns and no Tessa involvement.
I hated it.
Then remembered:
This was not about my anger.
So Miles had supervised visits.
He was eight months old.
He did not understand.
Marissa cried.
Held him.
Fed him.
Returned him when time ended.
No incident.
Tessa remained separate.
Then at nine and a half, she asked:
“Does Mom still love us?”
“Yes.”
“How can she?”
I took time.
“People can love someone and still make choices that are selfish or dangerous.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No.”
Then:
“Did she leave because of Rhett?”
“Partly.”
“Because of the house?”
“Partly.”
“Because of us?”
“No.”
That answer I gave confidently.
She had left them behind because they were obstacles to her plan.
Not because she hated them.
That distinction mattered to a child.
Then she asked:
“Would Mom have come back if I didn’t call?”
“Yes.”
I believed that too.
Marissa had not abandoned them forever.
She planned to return after closing meeting.
That did not make the neglect acceptable.
But it kept the story accurate.
Then Tessa said:
“I’m glad I called.”
“So am I.”
May you like
For the first time, she smiled.
The phone call was becoming something other than shame.
