Pastor Williams’ voice got careful. “Are you sure you’re not overreacting? Big life changes can affect us at your age.”
At your age. Again.
I hung up and stared out at the ocean until my eyes stopped burning.
Then Terry called.
“I talked to lawyers,” he said. “Guardianship isn’t hard if we have witnesses you’ve been acting erratically. If you don’t want this to get ugly, make me co-owner. Let me help manage things for your protection.”
I whispered, “This is extortion.”
“This is family,” he replied, and hung up.
Geneva showed up at 2:00 a.m. like she was summoned by my mother’s prayers. She turned on lights, fed me fried chicken and mac and cheese, and sat beside me on the couch until my shaking stopped.
“Where’s that woman who built an empire?” Geneva asked softly.
“She’s tired,” I admitted.
“Then let me hold the line while you remember,” she said. “Because you can’t love somebody into respecting you.”
We made a plan before the sun came up.
Sunday afternoon, my attorney Sarah Lawson arrived with a briefcase and an expression that said she’d already decided she didn’t like my son.
“Alyssa,” she said, laying out papers, “what he’s threatening is real in the sense that he can try. But he doesn’t have a legal claim to your property. We’re going to document everything—texts, calls, that Facebook group, the unauthorized charges, the emails—and we’re going to go on offense.”
I showed her the 47 texts and 12 calls. The emails. The “nature will take its course” line. Sarah’s face didn’t flinch. “This isn’t concern,” she said. “This is a strategy.”
She did some digging and came back with documents that made my stomach drop: Terry’s business behind on rent, credit cards maxed, loan denials—and a home equity loan application where he listed “anticipated inheritance from estate of Alyssa Moore” as collateral.
“They’re broke,” Sarah said. “That’s why they came.”
I sat back, feeling something solidify in my chest—not anger, not grief. Clarity.
“What do I do?” I asked.
Sarah nodded toward the deed. “You protect your asset. And you protect yourself.”
Then she said the sentence that flipped my whole perspective. “Your LLC structure makes it easy to run this as a legal vacation rental. You can hire a manager, screen guests, set rules, control everything—and make money while you sleep.”
