“You… you stole forty-three thousand dollars from me?” My voice cracked, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. “Mom, that was my down payment for the condo! I’ve been saving for four years! I’ve eaten ramen noodles for four years!”
“Family is family, Rachel,” she replied smoothly, adopting the patronizing tone she always used when I dared to assert a boundary. “Melissa and Brandon are tight on cash right now. They just bought that beautiful house, and they are starting their life together. This is her big day. A once-in-a-lifetime event.”
“And my life?” I sobbed. “What about my life?”
“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” she sighed, a sound of profound annoyance. “You live in a tiny studio. You don’t need a condo right now. You only have yourself to worry about. If I had asked you for the money, you would have said no. You’ve always been so selfish with your money, Rachel. I did what a mother has to do to protect her family.”
“You stole it!” I screamed, the injustice burning like acid in my veins.
“I borrowed it,” she corrected sharply. “We’ll pay you back eventually. Just don’t make a scene at the rehearsal dinner tomorrow. This is about Melissa’s happiness. Goodnight, Rachel.”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She hung up.
I sat in the dark, shivering. She had just wiped out my entire net worth to buy crab puffs and champagne for two hundred people, and she had the audacity to call me selfish.
I didn’t sleep the rest of the night. I sat at my small dining table, the glow of my laptop illuminating my tear-stained face. I researched banking laws, fraud claims, and chargebacks. Because I had voluntarily given my mother the card number in the past, proving criminal fraud to the police would be a messy, drawn-out civil battle.
But I didn’t need the police. I needed leverage.
