PART 3
I held up one finger, asking him to wait.
The representative explained that because I had denied authorization, the bank would open an emergency investigation before the funds completed settlement. Since the transfer had occurred only hours earlier, there was still a possibility of freezing the money before it reached the property seller.
Possibility.
Not certainty.
But it was enough.
“I’ll cooperate fully,” I said.
“We’ll need copies of your identification, your banking history, and any evidence regarding joint ownership. An investigator will contact you within the hour.”
“Thank you.”
I ended the call.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then my mother laughed.
It wasn’t genuine.
It was the nervous laugh people use when reality begins slipping away.
“You actually reported your own mother?”
“I reported an unauthorized transfer.”
Dad slammed his palm against the marble countertop.
“Enough!”
His voice echoed through the enormous kitchen.
“You’re humiliating this family the day after your brother’s wedding.”
I calmly slipped my phone into my handbag.
“No, Dad. Someone emptied my account the morning after the wedding.”
Jackson rubbed both hands through his hair.
“You’re acting like I stole it.”
“You accepted it.”
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Khloe, who had been unusually quiet, finally spoke.
“Jackson… you told me your parents were helping.”
Every head turned toward her.
His hesitation lasted only a second too long.
“You… didn’t know?” I asked.
She looked genuinely confused.
“You said the money came from your family’s investment account.”
My mother immediately interrupted.
“It IS family money.”
“No,” I said quietly. “It was mine.”
Khloe’s face lost color.
For the first time since I’d met her, she looked less like Jackson’s perfectly polished wife and more like someone realizing she’d married into a very dangerous habit.
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