He wore a jacket too expensive for the place and looked exhausted.

Trevor offered Nathan a substantial payment to sell his interest in parcel 402B to an investment group.

He said Brenda would step aside, the parking business would continue, and the public controversy could end.

Nathan asked who represented the investment group.

Trevor admitted that several association members were involved but refused to identify them without a confidentiality agreement.

Nathan said he would consider a genuine written proposal through Marisol, provided it did not require concealment of facts relevant to the audit.

Trevor accused him of enjoying the attention.

Nathan replied that he had spent more money on lawyers than he had ever expected to earn from the land.

Trevor said the parking operation had begun as a temporary way to fund neglected HOA repairs.

He admitted that the revenue later became too important to stop.

Nathan asked why the company had continued describing annual subscriptions as secure long-term rights.

Trevor looked at the table and said customers demanded certainty.

Nathan told him that selling certainty without a legal foundation was precisely the problem.

Trevor left without shaking hands.

Nathan passed the encounter to his attorney and recorded his recollection while it was fresh.

Chapter 24 — The Cost of Being Right

Nathan’s mortgage payment came due on the same week as another legal invoice.

He sold a spare motorcycle he had been restoring with his father before Walter died.

Sophie watched the buyer load it into a trailer and asked whether the land had already cost their family too much.

Nathan said he was beginning to think so.

He did not tell her that his credit card balance had become frightening.

That evening Marisol recommended a budget for the remaining litigation and described options for mediation.

She explained that a settlement could protect Nathan’s interests without requiring him to fight every disputed fact at trial.

Nathan asked whether settling would mean Brenda had won.

Marisol said the point of litigation was to resolve rights and harms, not to manufacture a story where one side had to lose everything.

Nathan thought about Sophie, his job, and the empty space in the garage where the motorcycle had stood.

He authorized Marisol to propose a structured mediation with the HOA and the parking company.

He insisted that the discussion include residents’ claims and a transparent accounting of revenue.

Marisol said those conditions might complicate the process, but they were coherent objectives.

Nathan went home and apologized to Sophie for not telling her how worried he had been.