Ruth reached for her reading glasses, her hands steady but slow as she set them on her nose.
“He emptied the savings account in April,” Lauren said, pointing to a line of numbers. “Fifty-four thousand dollars, gone in a single afternoon.”
“There must be an explanation,” Ruth said, though her voice lacked conviction as she stared at the bank statements. “Perhaps he moved it to a trust for the children’s education.”
“He moved it to an account in Columbus,” Lauren said. “He made sure everything was left completely outside our shared property.”
Ruth sank into one of the vinyl kitchen chairs, her eyes darting over the columns of numbers.
“He told us he was helping you build a retirement portfolio,” Ruth said, her voice trembling slightly.
“He was building a wall,” Lauren said. “He has frozen me out of every single asset we owned, including the Hocking Hills cabin.”
Ruth looked up, her glasses slipping slightly down her nose.
“The cabin? But that was a family gift.”
