TRANSACTION DECLINED.
Matthew slammed his palm against the steering wheel.
“Dammit!”
Vanessa jumped.
“Don’t yell!”
“We need that money!”
“Lower your voice.”
Matthew looked at her.
“We’re not leaving without it.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m going back.”
“Back where?”
“Mom’s.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because if she wakes up—”
“She won’t.”
Matthew’s eyes hardened.
“I know my mother.”
But he was wrong.
Catherine wasn’t sleeping.
She was sitting at her kitchen table.
And beside her sat Arthur.
He had arrived fifteen minutes earlier.
Catherine looked at him.
“What happens when they come back?”
Arthur placed a folder on the table.
“We wait.”
“For what?”
“For Matthew to make the next mistake.”
Catherine stared at the folder.
“What is that?”
“Your medical evaluation.”
She touched it.
“And this?”
“Your updated will.”
She looked up.
“And this?”
Arthur’s expression became serious.
“That is the bank’s authorization history.”
Catherine opened the folder.
Her eyes moved across the pages.
Then stopped.
There it was.
Two weeks earlier.
A request had been made to add Matthew as an authorized user.
The request had been denied.
But beneath it was another document.
A handwritten signature.
Catherine’s signature.
Or at least an attempt at it.
Catherine’s face went pale.
“That’s not my signature.”
“I know.”
She looked at Arthur.
“Who forged it?”
Arthur didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Catherine already knew.
At 3:06 a.m., headlights swept across the curtains.
Matthew was back.
Catherine’s heart began pounding.
Arthur stood.
“Remember.”
“What?”
“Let him talk first.”
The front door opened.
Matthew entered.
Vanessa followed.
Catherine remained seated at the kitchen table.
She didn’t pretend to be asleep anymore.
Matthew froze when he saw her.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Catherine calmly said:
“Did you sleep well?”
Matthew’s face drained of color.
Vanessa stopped behind him.
Catherine looked at both of them.
Then she smiled faintly.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
Matthew swallowed.
“Mom…”
Catherine raised one hand.
“No.”
Her voice wasn’t loud.
That made it worse.
“You don’t get to call me Mom tonight.”
Matthew stared at her.
Catherine slowly pushed the expired bank card across the table.
“You took this.”
Matthew’s eyes dropped to it.
Then back to her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Arthur stepped forward.
“Then explain why you attempted two ATM withdrawals using it.”
Vanessa’s face went white.
Matthew turned toward Arthur.
“You?”
Arthur said nothing.
Catherine opened the folder.
“Matthew, I want you to look at this.”
He didn’t move.
She turned the document around.
His eyes landed on the forged signature.
The room became completely silent.
Matthew’s lips parted.
Vanessa whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Catherine looked at her.
“No.”
Her voice trembled for the first time.
“God didn’t do this.”
She looked directly at her son.
“You did.”
Matthew’s face collapsed.
But Catherine wasn’t finished.
She reached beneath the table and pulled out another envelope.
She placed it beside the bank documents.
Matthew stared at it.
“What is that?”
Catherine answered quietly:
“The letter from the bank’s fraud department.”
Matthew’s breathing changed.
Catherine leaned back.
“It says they want to speak with the person who attempted to access my account.”
Vanessa grabbed Matthew’s arm.
“Matthew…”
But Catherine lifted another document.
“And this one says someone attempted to have me declared mentally incompetent.”
Matthew looked at her.
For the first time that night, Catherine saw genuine fear in his eyes.
She whispered:
“Tell me the truth.”
Matthew said nothing.
“Just once.”
Still nothing.
Catherine’s voice broke.
“Was it you?”
Matthew lowered his head.
Vanessa started crying.
Catherine closed her eyes.
She had spent forty-five years feeding strangers.
She had spent decades saving every dollar.
She had sold her jewelry for her son’s education.
She had defended him when his father died.
She had opened her home to him.
And now he couldn’t even look her in the eyes.
Finally, Matthew whispered:
“Mom… I can explain.”
Catherine opened her eyes.
“Then explain.”
Matthew looked at Vanessa.
Then at Catherine.
And what he said next was something Catherine never expected.
“It wasn’t supposed to be your money.”
Catherine’s eyebrows pulled together.
“What?”
Matthew swallowed.
“Vanessa already took money from someone else.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward him.
“Matthew!”
Catherine slowly turned toward her daughter-in-law.
Vanessa’s face was frozen.
Catherine’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Whose money?”
Matthew stared at the floor.
“Her mother’s.”
Catherine’s eyes widened.
“And she lost it.”
Vanessa screamed:
“Stop!”
Matthew continued anyway.
“She owes people money, Mom.”
“How much?”
Matthew didn’t answer.
Catherine looked at Vanessa.
“How much?”
Vanessa started shaking.
Finally, she whispered:
“Almost eighty thousand dollars.”
The kitchen went silent.
Catherine stared at her.
Eighty thousand.
Then she looked at Matthew.
“And you were going to take my ten thousand to cover it.”
Matthew began crying.
“I was trying to save my marriage.”
Catherine’s expression changed.
“You weren’t saving your marriage.”
She pushed the documents toward him.
“You were sacrificing your mother.”
Matthew covered his face.
Catherine stood.
“I gave you everything I could.”
She looked at him for a long moment.
“But tonight, you finally showed me what you were willing to take.”
Then the doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
Arthur looked toward the front door.
Catherine didn’t move.
The bell rang again.
This time, there were three short presses.
Arthur walked to the window and looked outside.
His expression changed.
“Catherine.”
“What?”
“You need to sit down.”
“Why?”
Arthur pulled the curtain aside.
Two people were standing outside.
One wore a dark jacket.
The other held a badge.
Catherine stared.
Matthew stopped crying.
Vanessa’s hand flew to her mouth.
Arthur quietly said:
“The bank didn’t send them.”
Catherine looked at him.
“Then who are they?”
Arthur didn’t answer immediately.
He watched as the two strangers stepped away from the front porch.
One of them turned toward the house.
And Catherine saw something in his hand.
A photograph.
Her photograph.
Arthur finally whispered:
“That’s what we need to find out.”
Catherine’s blood ran cold.
Because whoever those men were…
They hadn’t come for the money.
They had come for her.
PART 4
Catherine did not move.
For several seconds, nobody in the kitchen breathed normally.
Matthew stood frozen beside the table.
Vanessa’s face had lost every trace of color.
Arthur remained near the window, watching the two men outside.
Then one of them turned his head toward the house again.
Catherine instinctively stepped backward.
“Arthur,” she whispered, “who are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you didn’t know.”
“I don’t.”
Arthur lowered the curtain.
“That’s why we’re not opening the door.”
Matthew suddenly spoke.
“Mom…”
Catherine looked at him.
“What?”
“I think I know.”
Arthur turned sharply.
“You know them?”
Matthew swallowed.
“Not them.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“That picture.”
Catherine’s stomach tightened.
“What about it?”
Matthew stared at the window.
“That’s the picture Vanessa used.”
Vanessa immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Matthew turned toward her.
“Don’t lie anymore.”
“Matthew—”
