Something flickered behind his eyes, but he went ahead and pulled it out.
"Right here. See?"
I snatched it from his hands and flipped it open, my fingers clumsy with urgency.
A bright red mortgage registration stamp stared back at me. It hadn't been there before.
"What is this?"
I jabbed my finger at the stamp.
Joel turned his face away and said nothing.
"Talk!"
"You have three seconds before I call the police."
I grabbed my phone and dialed 911.
Joel ripped it out of my hand and threw it onto the bed.
"I took out a mortgage on this apartment. The one we're living in right now."
I stared at him, unable to process what I'd just heard.
"This property is jointly owned. Or did you forget I put in five hundred thousand dollars?"
"How much did you borrow? Where's the money?"
Joel saw how worked up I was and moved to clamp his hand over my mouth.
"Keep your voice down. Maya will hear you."
I laughed. The kind of laugh that comes right before something breaks. "You gave it to her?"
Joel's expression locked up for a second. When he realized I'd already figured it out, he stopped pretending.
"Eight hundred thousand. Transferred every cent to Maya's account."