“Okay, calm down. I agree with your dad. The doctors told us he’s out of the woods, but they need to run more tests. Greg said he’d keep you in the loop, and your uncle will fill in with the management of your businesses while your dad recovers. And Caryn has delayed her departure to help out.”
“Sounds like you guys have worked this all out,” I said.
“I had to do something last night to keep my mind off …”
“I get it,” I interrupted what she was about to say. “Tell Dad that he’s in my thoughts and prayers and that I love him.”
“Will do.”
“And Mom,” I said, “I love you, too.”
“I know. Just focus on what you need to there and make us proud.”
“Okay,” I said, and she hung up.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. As much as I hated it, they were right; I needed to honor my commitments. The production was counting on me to deliver over the next few days so they could wrap up the filming of
◊◊◊
I had just finished a scene when I saw Lexi lurking off to the side, looking worried.
“Set the next scene,” Mr. Otsuki ordered, and that started a flurry of activity.
Lexi came over to me.
“A Mr. Jason Voorhees is here, and doesn’t look happy,” she informed me.
Mr. Voorhees was my lawyer here in California handling the Zander lawsuit. I talked to Mr. Otsuki first.
“I need a few minutes.”
“Take as long as you need,” he said with a look of compassion.
I expect he assumed this had something to do with my dad. I didn’t feel like sharing what Mr. Voorhees was here for. Well, to tell the truth, I had no real clue as to why he was here and pissed. I thought we had this figured out after Paddy had shown up.
Mr. Voorhees wanted to rip me a new one in the hall, but I grabbed his arm and pushed him into an empty classroom.
“What’s your problem?” I asked, letting my anger show.
“You hired me to negotiate this, and I get a call this morning saying that you’ve settled. I thought you knew better than to do anything stupid like that.”
I had to count to ten in my head, or I would do some actual physical damage. The only thing that saved him was I remembered what a shark he was and didn’t need him coming after me.
“You’re representing me; you should save the animosity for Zander’s lawyers. I would tone it down a notch if I were you,” I warned.
“I can’t get your father on the phone, and Ms. Dixon is in court this morning. Zander’s people gave me a day to accept the agreement,” he explained.
I shook my head. It sounded like Zander’s lawyers were trying to mess up the deal because he’d agreed to settle. The longer they could play it out, the more they got paid. The 24-hour deadline was meant to be a red flag and make me back out.
“My dad had a heart attack last night.”
Mr. Voorhees didn’t even flinch. He was such a bastard. Then again, that was why I hired him.
“What’s the settlement offer?” I asked to get this over with.
“I’m not happy with it. There’s no cash. Zander’s trying to pawn off property to you ‘as is.’ I strongly advise that you not do that. We have no idea what loans or other liens he has against them. For all we know, you could be upside down on them and owe money,” he complained.
“Hang on,” I said, holding up a finger.
My mom owned a real estate company. She would know what to do to make sure I didn’t pick up a problem property.
“Didn’t I just talk to you?” Mom asked when she answered.
“Mr. Voorhees received the settlement offer from Zander, and it’s real estate. He’s worried that the properties might have liens and outstanding loans against them,” I explained, and then put Mom on speaker so Mr. Voorhees could hear.
“If there is a loan, Zander has no choice but to pay it off before the deed can be transferred to another owner. A mortgage has a ‘Due on Sale’ clause that prevents that from happening.
“That basically means that if the title changes hands, they get paid first. They want to ensure that the new owner can pay the loan. To eliminate that worry, they make the new owner apply for and get a new mortgage.
“As far as liens, encroachments, and the like go, I can send the addresses to my title company and ask them to do a quick search. If there are any, either you have to accept them, or Zander has to clean them up,” she explained.
“What about value? We have to either reject or accept this deal today,” Mr. Voorhees said.
“That doesn’t give us time to do a full appraisal. The best I can do is what’s called a ‘desktop appraisal.’ It’s what banks use to help with loan decisions. It takes recent sales from public records and does a calculation.
“The only time I’ve run into a problem with that type of appraisal is if the home is unique in some significant way. I use it to help ensure we’re getting the value right when listing a home, and I make adjustments based on location, condition, upgrades, and such. My investors also love it as a quick way to figure out what they should pay for a property,” Mom said.
“Do you have a list?” I asked Mr. Voorhees.
