My Daughter Whispered, “Grandma Says We Only Deserve Instant Soup”
Chapter 2
The Frozen Accounts Exposed A Much Bigger Betrayal By Morning
At ten the next morning, I walked into the house beside my attorney, Thomas Vance, who had spent six months helping me document the financial irregularities. Brandon, Gertrude, and Hailey sat around the living room table looking sleepless. Gertrude exploded first. “Who do you think you are to freeze this family’s money?” I answered, “It is my money.”
Hailey pointed toward a blue folder. “The contractor will be here in twenty minutes. We need twenty thousand dollars.” Thomas opened his briefcase. “No payment will be made. From now on, all financial matters connected to this property and the pending divorce come through me.” Brandon went white at the word divorce and claimed the loans were temporary because his business bonus had disappeared. Thomas laid down a bank statement showing a $10,000 bonus deposited last month and transferred the same day into a private account.
Then Brandon’s phone lit up on the table. A message from Amber asked whether he was still bringing rent money for “our downtown apartment.” Gertrude gasped. Before Brandon could answer, the contractor entered carrying blueprints. He explained he had been hired to convert my house into a multi-family duplex using a proposed second mortgage exceeding $200,000. “Gertrude said Charlotte signed everything,” he added. “She said she took the deeds from your private desk.”
I ran upstairs. The lock on my filing cabinet had been forced. My identification, property deeds, and the velvet purse holding Skylar’s savings were gone. Downstairs, I saw the purse sticking from Gertrude’s handbag. The cash inside—nearly ten thousand dollars saved for Skylar over eleven years—was missing.
“Who took it?” I demanded. Gertrude pointed at Brandon. Brandon shouted that his mother told him to. Thomas plugged my flash drive into his laptop and played an audio file recorded three days earlier. Gertrude’s voice said she had opened my cabinet with a screwdriver and found Skylar’s savings. Brandon answered, “Take it. Charlotte works so much she’ll never notice.”
The contractor rolled up his plans and left. Thomas then displayed transfers to Amber, hotel charges, sports-betting accounts, payday loans, and secret lenders. Skylar’s stolen savings had been used to cover interest on Brandon’s personal debt. Thomas scanned the records. “Almost thirty thousand dollars, and Gertrude is listed as guarantor on documents she says she never signed.”
Gertrude stared at her son.
Then someone pounded on the front door.
Brandon began shaking. “Don’t open it.”
Thomas reached for the lock anyway.
