Chapter 6: My Mother's Hidden Account
For several seconds, I couldn't hear anything except the blood rushing in my ears.
My mother's name stared back at me from the bank statement.
Angela Brooks.
The name was printed beside an account number I had never seen before. Beneath it were several transactions, including the transfer to Ethan Cole.
My mother had been gone for eight years.
How could money connected to her be moving through Vanessa's hands?
Dad placed the statement on the marble island.
“Explain this,” he said.
Ethan took a breath.
“I don't know the whole story. That's why I came here.””
Vanessa wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand.
“You're making assumptions.””
Ethan turned toward her.
“You told me Angela wanted me to have the money.””
“I said it was connected to her.””
“You showed me a document with her name on it.””
“That doesn't prove anything.””
“It proves you knew exactly what you were doing.””
Dad held up his hand.
“Both of you, stop talking over each other. Ethan, start from the beginning.””
Ethan placed the envelope on the island and pulled out a chair.
This time, he sat.
“About six weeks ago, Vanessa contacted me through social media. We hadn't spoken in years. She said she needed to discuss something important, something involving money that had been set aside before she married you.””
Dad remained standing.
“Why would she contact you after all these years?””
“I asked her the same question.””
“And?””
“She said she was trying to fix an old mistake.””
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“That's true.””
Ethan turned toward her.
“Then tell him the rest.””
She looked away.
Ethan continued.
“She told me that she and I had been connected to a financial arrangement before she met you. She said a woman named Angela had helped establish an account, and that some of the money had been reserved for me.””
I frowned.
“My mother never met you.””
“I know that now,” Ethan said gently.
“At the time, Vanessa told me your mother had been involved in something I didn't understand. She said there had been paperwork I wasn't allowed to see.””
Dad pulled out a chair but didn't sit.
“Why would you believe any of that?””
“Because Vanessa knew details about my life that I hadn't shared publicly. She knew about my father's medical bills. She knew I'd been trying to keep my small construction business open. She even knew the exact amount I owed a former business partner.””
He looked at Vanessa.
“You used those details to make me believe you were helping me.””
She pressed her lips together.
Ethan opened the envelope again.
“She sent me copies of account documents. Some were genuine. Others, I suspect, were altered. She told me that once the money arrived, I should use it to settle my debts and stop contacting her.””
Dad's eyes narrowed.
“And you accepted eighteen thousand dollars?””
“I did. I thought it was money she had a legal right to give me.””
“What made you suspicious?””
Ethan reached for another sheet of paper.
“The transfer confirmation listed an account associated with Maya's scholarship. I didn't notice it immediately. When I did, I called Vanessa. She told me the account had been linked by mistake and that she would correct the records.””
He looked at me.
“I'm sorry. I should have investigated before accepting anything.””
I studied him.
He didn't look proud of what he had done. He looked like a man who had finally realized he had been used.
But an apology couldn't restore the money.
“Do you still have it?”” I asked.
Ethan nodded.
“Most of it.””
“How much is missing?””
“About two thousand dollars. I used some to pay an urgent business expense before I realized where the funds had come from.””
My chest tightened.
“You spent my money?””
“I did. I thought it was legitimate. I have the invoices, and I'll provide everything to the bank. I can return what remains immediately.””
Dad placed a hand on the counter.
“And the rest?””
“I'll make it right.””
Vanessa let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh.
“With what money, Ethan? Your business is barely surviving.””
He looked at her.
“At least I'm trying to fix what I did.””
“You're going to destroy everything.””
“No,” he replied.
“You did that when you involved Maya.””
She flinched.
I wanted to hate Ethan. Part of me did. He had accepted money that wasn't his, and I couldn't pretend that his explanation made the damage disappear.
But Vanessa had made the choice to access my account.
She had made the choice to send the money.
And she had made the choice to smash my trophy when I refused to hand over more.
I looked at Dad.
“What does Mom's account have to do with any of this?””
He picked up the statement again.
“I don't know yet.””
“Did Mom have another bank account?””
Dad stared at the paper for a long moment.
“She had a small savings account when you were younger. She told me she wanted to leave you something for college.””
My heart thudded.
“What happened to it?””
“I thought it had been closed after she died.””
“Did you close it?””
“No.””
The answer came too quickly to be uncertain.
Dad shook his head.
“Your mother handled most of her personal banking. After she passed, I took care of the estate paperwork. I remember the account, but I was told the remaining balance had been transferred according to her instructions.””
“By who?””
He looked toward Vanessa.
She was staring at the floor.
“Vanessa helped me organize some of the documents,” he said.
“She offered to contact the financial institutions because I couldn't bear to go through everything myself.””
I felt suddenly sick.
My father had been grieving his wife. I had been a child, waking up at night because I couldn't remember the sound of my mother's voice clearly enough.
And Vanessa had been handling the paperwork.
Dad turned toward her.
“You told me the account was settled.””
“It was.””
“Then why is Angela's name on a transfer to Ethan?””
Vanessa shook her head.
“You're confusing two different things.””
“Show me.””
“I don't have those records anymore.””
“Convenient.””
“Darius, please.””
He picked up his phone.
“I'm calling the estate attorney.””
Vanessa's face crumpled.
“No.””
Dad paused.
“Why are you so afraid of someone checking the paperwork?””
She looked at me.
For a second, her expression softened into something almost human.
“Maya, you have to understand. Your mother left behind complicated things.””
“My mother left me,” I whispered.
“She didn't leave me complicated things. She died.””
The words struck harder than I expected.
My eyes filled, and I turned away, ashamed of crying in front of Vanessa.
Dad came around the island and put an arm around my shoulders.
“You don't have to defend your mother's memory,” he said quietly.
I leaned against him for one second, breathing through the tightness in my throat.
Then I straightened.
“No. I want answers.””
Ethan opened the envelope again.
“There is one more thing.””
He removed a folded document, its edges yellowed with age.
“This was included with the papers Vanessa sent me. She said it was proof that I was entitled to part of the account.””
Dad unfolded it.
The page contained a list of names, dates, and financial figures. Several lines had been marked with a yellow highlighter.
Near the bottom was a sentence typed in capital letters:
*BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION SUBJECT TO CHANGE UPON MARRIAGE.*
Below it were two names.
Angela Brooks.
Vanessa Brooks.
Dad read the line twice.
“Where did you get this original?””
“Vanessa mailed it to me.””
He looked up.
“Why would you keep it?””
“Because the wording didn't make sense. I asked a lawyer to review it, and she told me the document appeared incomplete. She recommended that I stop using the funds until its authenticity could be confirmed.””
Dad's fingers tightened around the paper.
“Did you tell Vanessa that?””
“Yes.””
“And what did she say?””
Ethan looked at her.
“She said if I returned the money, everyone would discover what she'd done years ago.””
Vanessa backed away from the island.
“That's not what I said.””
Ethan's expression hardened.
“You told me Angela's account wasn't the only one.””
Dad became perfectly still.
I looked at him.
“Dad?””
He didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on Vanessa.
“What other account?”” he asked.
Vanessa opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Dad moved the document closer to the light.
At the bottom of the page, beneath the names and financial figures, was a handwritten note in my mother's familiar slanted handwriting.
I recognized it immediately.
It was the same handwriting she had used on birthday cards and the lunch notes she used to tuck into my schoolbag.
Dad read the note aloud.
“If anything happens to me, make sure Maya receives what is hers.””
He stopped.
My breath caught.
Beneath the sentence was a date.
It was written two weeks before my mother died.
Dad slowly turned toward Vanessa.
“You told me Angela never left specific instructions for Maya.””
Vanessa's eyes filled again.
“I was trying to protect this family.””
“From what?””
She backed toward the hallway, shaking her head.
Then Ethan reached into the envelope one final time.
“There was another page,” he said.
“I didn't show you because I wasn't sure it was connected.””
He placed it on the island.
It was a photocopy of an old legal form, and the signature at the bottom was unmistakably my mother's.
But the name written beside the line marked *AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE* was not my father's.
It was Vanessa's.
Dad stared at it.
Then he looked at the date.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Vanessa, you had legal authority over Angela's account before you ever married me.””
Vanessa said nothing.
I leaned closer to the document, trying to understand the words printed beneath the signature.
Then I saw the final line.
*AUTHORIZATION TO BE REVOKED UPON BENEFICIARY'S EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY.*
My eighteenth birthday had been four months ago.
I looked up at Vanessa.
She was no longer crying.
She was staring at the document as if it had become a weapon pointed directly at her.
And suddenly, the missing eighteen thousand dollars felt like only a small piece of something my mother had spent years trying to protect me from.
Because whatever Vanessa had done with my mother's account, she had known there would come a day when I was old enough to claim what belonged to me.
May you like
That day had arrived.
And she had already spent the money.
