Chapter 7 - MOM ALREADY SUSPECTED SOMETHINGI went to my mother.
She listened.
Then said:
“I knew Lauren was desperate.”
I stared.
“You knew?”
“Not about Elena.”
“What did you know?”
Lauren had asked strange questions.
Could a trustee be removed?
What happens if Mom develops dementia?
Could a beneficiary seek emergency supervision?
Mom brushed it off.
Then Victoria began “helping.”
Rearranging paperwork.
Offering to attend medical appointments.
Mom declined.
Then letters went missing.
One from her investment adviser.
One from Rachel Cho, her new estate attorney.
Mom started keeping copies elsewhere.
That saved us later.
She looked at me.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
Then I stopped.
I had almost said it angrily.
But I had also missed signs.
No one person caused the blindness.
Then Mom asked:
“Why Elena?”
Because Elena had seen too much.
And unlike family, she could be removed quickly.
Fire her.
Discredit her.
Call police.
Once accused of theft, anything she later said about trust manipulation would sound retaliatory.
It was elegant.
May you like
Cruel.
And almost effective.
