I looked back.
“I can.”
The smile vanished from her face.
I carried my wife into the car.
As we pulled away, I looked in the side mirror.
Mother and Travis were already standing close together.
Talking.
Planning.
Dividing money that didn’t belong to them.
They thought I was leaving angry.
I wasn’t.
I was leaving prepared.
At the hospital, Serena was admitted within an hour.
Severe dehydration.
Malnutrition.
Anemia.
Advanced lymphoma that should have been treated consistently months earlier.
The oncologist explained that interruptions had allowed the disease to progress.
There were still options.
But we had lost time.
Precious time.
Time I had unknowingly paid my own family to steal from her.
After Serena fell asleep, I sat beside her bed until nearly midnight.
Then I called a lawyer.
Not the family attorney my mother knew.
A litigation attorney recommended by the legal team handling my European settlement.
Her name was Rachel Monroe.
She arrived the next morning wearing a navy suit, carrying nothing but a leather portfolio and the kind of expression that made people nervous before she even spoke.
I gave her everything.
Wire transfers.
Messages from my mother claiming Serena was well.
Bank statements.
Photos of the renovations.
The registration information for Travis’s truck.
Records from his business.
Most importantly, I gave her the audio and video I had recorded from outside the gate.
Rachel listened without interrupting.
When it ended, she closed the laptop.
“How much money did you send your mother in total?”
“About one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars.”
“And what did she tell you the money was for?”
“Home expenses, renovations and Serena.”
“Do you have that in writing?”
“Hundreds of messages.”
Rachel nodded.
“Good.”
“What can we do?”
She looked toward Serena’s hospital room.
“A lot more than they think.”
Over the next several hours, Rachel and her team uncovered what had happened.
My mother had refinanced the property using documents she claimed I had authorized.
She had purchased the pickup truck in cash.
She had transferred nearly twenty-two thousand dollars into Travis’s business.
She had even opened a credit line against renovations paid for with my money.
Then Rachel found something worse.
Serena had signed nothing.
But several documents carried what appeared to be her signature.
I stared at them.
“That isn’t her handwriting.”
Rachel looked at me.
“Then we may be dealing with forgery as well.”
I sat back.
“What about tomorrow’s meeting?”
Rachel’s expression changed.
“You told them they needed to consolidate assets?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect.”
She opened her portfolio.
“Then let’s give them exactly what they asked for.”
