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“She found out shortly before she died.”
My mother shut her eyes.
“She was furious.”
I looked back down at the documents.
The bank statements showed withdrawal after withdrawal over nearly seven years.
Two hundred thousand.
Seventy thousand.
Forty-five thousand.
Another ninety thousand.
Luxury resort payments.
Failed investment properties in Palm Springs.
Credit card balances.
European vacations.
Country club debts.
I felt physically sick.
While Ethan and I were counting quarters for laundry…
My parents were vacationing in Italy.
While I begged banks not to repossess bakery equipment…
They were draining the future my grandmother built for me.
“How could you do this?” I whispered.
My father finally snapped.
“Because life happened!”
His voice cracked through the room sharply.
“You think maintaining this family was cheap? You think appearances maintain themselves? After the market collapsed, after the hotels struggled, after your grandfather cut us off financially, we had no choice!”
“No choice?” I stared at him in disbelief. “You stole from your daughter.”
“We borrowed it!”
“You never told me it existed!”
“We intended to repay it!”