paid this much?”
“Yes.”
Mom looked at me.
“You spent all this on vacation properties?”
“Not this one alone.”
“How many do you own?”
I hesitated.
Then answered.
“Eleven.”
Nobody spoke.
Kyle slowly put the document down.
Melissa stared at me.
“Eleven?”
“Yes.”
“You own eleven houses?”
“Vacation properties.”
“How?”
“I built a company.”
“You never told us.”
I looked at her.
“You never asked.”
That sentence landed harder than I expected.
Mom sat down.
“You’ve been doing this all these years?”
“Yes.”
“And we thought you just worked in
