Robert had used his own name for the company. How poetic. «No, honey, I’ve never heard that name. Are you sure the letter is legitimate?»
«That’s what I want to find out. Mom, I need you to help me. I don’t know what to do. Edward left me in Europe. He ran off with another woman, and now I come back to this. I don’t understand what’s happening.»
There was the confirmation. Edward had abandoned her, probably when the money ran out, or when he realized that the legal problems at home were more serious than he thought. Poor Angela. She had sacrificed her family for a worthless man.
«I’m so sorry, honey. Where are you now?»
«I’m in the apartment, but I don’t know for how long. Mom, can I come see you? I need to… I need to talk to someone. I don’t have anyone else.»
The irony was perfect. Now that she was left without the man for whom she had abandoned me, she remembered she had a mother. «Of course, honey, come over whenever you want.»
«I’m on my way.»
I hung up the phone and looked at myself in the mirror. I had to be perfect for this performance. I put on my most conservative gray dress, tied my hair in a simple bun, and practiced my expression of a worried but resigned mother. When Angela arrived, she would see exactly what she expected to see: a poor, vulnerable widow who had been abandoned by her own daughter.
Angela arrived an hour later. When I opened the door, I was surprised at how bad she looked. She had lost weight, had deep circles under her eyes, and her expensive clothes looked wrinkled and unkempt. Her eyes were red from crying.
«Mom,» she said, and for a moment I thought she was going to hug me, but she stopped, as if she suddenly remembered how things had ended between us.
«Come in, honey. Do you want some coffee?»
«Yes, please.»
We sat in the kitchen, at the same table where I had read Robert’s documents weeks ago. Angela looked small in that chair, lost, just like when she was a child and came to tell me about her school problems. «Mom, I’m so sorry for the way I left. I know I didn’t treat you well.»
«It’s in the past, honey.»
«No, it’s not. I treated you badly. I said horrible things, and now…» Her voice broke. «Now I have no one.»
«What happened with Edward?»
«He left with a 25-year-old hotel waitress in Paris. It turns out there was never any business in Europe. It was all a lie. He just wanted to escape the debts he had here and use the money from the sale of your house to fund his adventure.»
«All the debts?»
«Yes, Mom. So many debts. It seems he had been taking out loans for years, using the apartment we lived in as collateral. But now I find out he wasn’t the owner of the apartment. How is that possible?»
Here was my opportunity. «I don’t know, honey. Property matters are very complicated.»
«The problem is that now the banks are coming after me for his debts. They say since we were married, I’m also responsible. And on top of that, this eviction notice. Mom, I don’t know what to do. I don’t have money. I don’t have a job. I don’t have anywhere to live.»
She started to cry, real tears of genuine desperation. And for a moment, my mother’s heart softened. I wanted to hug her, console her, tell her everything would be okay. But then I remembered the coldness in her voice when she called me from the doctor’s office, the ease with which she had discarded me, the way she had talked to me as if I were a burden.
«Did you talk to a lawyer about the letter?»
«I don’t have money for a lawyer, Mom. We spent all the money in Europe. Edward took what little was left when he ran off with that woman.»
«So what are you going to do?»
«I don’t know. I thought maybe… maybe I could stay with you for a while, just until I find a job and can get a small place to live.»
There was the question I had been waiting for. After kicking me out of my own house, after selling my things, after treating me like garbage, she now wanted me to rescue her. She wanted the poor widow she had created to save her from the consequences of her own actions. «Of course, honey, this will always be your home.»
Angela looked at me with surprise, as if she hadn’t expected it to be so easy. «Really, Mom, after everything that happened?»
«You are my daughter, Angela. That will never change.»
She got up, and this time she hugged me. It was a desperate hug, from someone drowning and clinging to the only thing they can find. I hugged her back, too, but not with the unconditional love from before. Now there was calculation in my embrace. Strategy.
«Thank you, Mom. I promise I’ll find a job soon. I won’t be a burden.»
«Don’t worry about that now. Rest, recover, and then we’ll see what your options are.»
Angela left that afternoon to get some things from her apartment. I stayed in the kitchen, thinking about how easy it had been. She had come to me exactly as I had planned: broken, desperate, with no options, and best of all, she suspected nothing. To her, I was still the poor, abandoned mother who needed her compassion, but this was only the first part of my plan.
Having her live with me would give me the perfect opportunity for the next phase. I was going to let her settle in, feel safe, and believe she had found a refuge in my house. And then, when she least expected it, I was going to teach her the difference between being poor by choice and being poor by consequence.
That night, I called Mr. Peterson. «Mr. Peterson, I need you to do something else for me.»
«Tell me, Mrs. Brooks.»
«I want you to investigate Edward’s debts. I want to know exactly how much he owes, to whom, and what legal options I have to separate them from my daughter.»
«That will take time, but it’s feasible.»
«Perfect. And, Mr. Peterson, I want you to keep this an absolute secret. No one can know I am behind this investigation.»
«Of course, Mrs. Brooks. May I ask what your final plan is?»
«My plan, Mr. Peterson, is very simple. I’m going to save my daughter, but first, she has to understand what it truly means to hit rock bottom.»
When I hung up, I poured myself a glass of the wine Robert had been saving for special occasions. It had been a long time since I’d had a special occasion like this one. The game had begun, and for the first time in months, I had all the good cards in my hand.
Angela moved into my house the next day. She arrived with two suitcases and a cardboard box, all that was left of her previous life. I watched her unpack in her old room, the same one she had slept in during her teenage years, and I could see the humiliation in every one of her movements. She had gone from living in a luxury condo to taking refuge in her childhood bedroom.
«Mom, I found this in the apartment,» she said, showing me a manila envelope. «It was among Edward’s things. It has your name on it.»
It was another one of Robert’s envelopes. My heart sped up, but I kept my composure. «My name? How strange.»
«Yes, look.» She showed me the envelope. Indeed, it had my name written on it in Robert’s handwriting, but this envelope was different from the one I had found in my dresser. This one was smaller, newer.
«Maybe Edward found it among Dad’s things when he died and forgot to give it to me,» Angela said.
«It’s possible. Can I see it?»
I opened the envelope in her presence. Inside was a short letter and a small key. The letter said, «Antonia, if you are reading this after having received the main envelope, it means our daughter is going through a difficult time. This key opens a safety deposit box at the Central Bank, downtown branch. The number is 247. There is something there that can help you help her, but use it wisely. With eternal love, Robert.»
Angela read the letter over my shoulder. «A safety deposit box? Dad had a safety deposit box? I had no idea.»
«I didn’t either,» I lied. «Your father never told me about this.»
«Do you think we should go see what’s in there?»
«I don’t know, honey. Maybe it’s better to leave things as they are.»
«But Mom, maybe there’s something important in there, documents or, I don’t know, maybe something valuable that can help us.»
The desperation in her voice was palpable. Angela was clinging to any possibility of finding a way out of her situation, and I was going to let her cling a little longer before I showed her the complete reality. «OK,» I said after a calculated pause. «We can go tomorrow.»
That night, Angela and I had dinner together for the first time in months. She had cooked, trying to be useful, but the food tasted of guilt and desperation. She told me more details about what had happened in Europe, and each story was worse than the last. «Edward lied about everything, Mom, not just the business, but the debts, too. I thought he only owed a little bit of money, but it turns out he owes over $100,000.»
«And the worst part is, he used my name for some of the loans without me knowing.»
«How is that possible?»
«He forged my signature. When I married him, I gave him some documents to handle the banking for our joint account. I never thought he’d use them for this.»
«Do you have any way to prove you didn’t know?»
«I don’t know. It’s all so complicated. The banks say that since we were married, I’m responsible for all his debts anyway.»
«And the divorce?»
«I don’t even know where Edward is now. He just disappeared. His phone is disconnected. He doesn’t answer emails. Nothing. It’s as if he vanished.»
Perfect. Edward had run away like the rat he had always been, leaving Angela to face the consequences of her actions alone. In a way, he had done me a favor. Now my daughter was experiencing exactly what I had felt when he abandoned me, betrayal by someone she had completely trusted.
«I’m so sorry, honey. I didn’t know things were so bad.»
«I didn’t either, Mom. I thought Edward loved me, that we were going to build something together. But it turns out I was just an easy way for him to get money and documents.»
Angela started to cry again. «How could I have been so stupid? How did I not realize who he really was?»
It was tempting to tell her that I had seen the signs from the beginning, that I had tried to warn her that Edward never seemed trustworthy, but that would have broken my facade as a compassionate and vulnerable mother. «Love can be blinding sometimes, honey. Don’t blame yourself.»
«But, Mom, I didn’t just ruin my life. I ruined yours, too. I treated you horribly. I took your house, your truck, your things, and all to give to a man who abandoned me at the first opportunity. Now we’re two poor women trying to survive because of me.»
«It’s in the past, Angela. We’ll be okay.»
«No, it’s not. Now we’re both in trouble because of my mistakes. You lost everything Dad left you, and I lost my marriage and my future. We’re two poor women trying to survive.»
If she only knew, I thought, that at this very moment, I had more money than she could possibly imagine, that I was the owner of the building where she lived, that I could solve all her problems with a single phone call. But it wasn’t time yet.
The next day, we went to the bank. Angela was nervous, hopeful. I maintained my act as a confused widow who didn’t understand much about finance. The bank employee led us to the safety deposit boxes, verified my ID, and opened box number 247.
Inside were jewels, many jewels, rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings. I recognized some pieces as heirlooms from Robert’s family. Others were completely new to me. There was also a letter explaining the origin of each piece and its approximate value.
Angela gasped. «Mom, this must be worth a fortune.»
«You think so?»
«Yes. Look at this emerald and this pearl necklace. Mom, Dad saved a treasure here.»
According to Robert’s letter, the jewels were worth approximately $200,000. It was a significant amount, but it was nothing compared to the rest of my assets. It was like finding a few coins under the sofa when you have a million dollars in the bank.
«What do we do with this, Mom?»
«I don’t know, honey. They’re family memories.»
«But Mom, we could sell some of the pieces. With this money, you could get your beach house back, and I could pay off some of Edward’s debts.»
There it was again. Even when she found something valuable, Angela’s first reaction was to think about how to use it to solve the problems Edward had created. She hadn’t learned a thing yet.
«Are you sure you want to use your father’s inheritance to pay Edward’s debts?»
«What other option do I have, Mom? If I don’t pay something soon, the banks are going to foreclose on everything I have. And technically, I don’t own anything. Everything was in Edward’s name.»
«Think carefully, honey. Once you sell these jewels, you won’t be able to get them back.»
«I know, but what else can I do? I can’t get a job with all these legal claims pending. No employer is going to want to hire someone with so many legal problems.»
We took the jewels home. Angela spread them out on the kitchen table and examined them one by one, calculating which ones she could sell and which she could keep. It was painful to watch her reduce decades of family history to numbers on a spreadsheet.
«Mom, I think I can get $180,000 for the jewels,» she said one afternoon, counting the bills on the kitchen table. «It’s less than I expected, but it’s enough to pay off the most urgent debts.»
«Are you sure you want to do this?»
«I have no choice. If I don’t pay something soon, they’ll seize everything. Even this house could be at risk if they prove I have some kind of legal connection to the properties.»
How ironic the situation was. Angela was worried about losing a house that I owned, paying the debts of a man who had abandoned her with money from jewels that had belonged to the same man who had created the fortune that could save her.
«And how are you going to decide which debts to pay first?»
«I talked to a free financial advisor at the bank. She told me to prioritize the debts that have real collateral because those are the ones that can affect property or lead to immediate foreclosure.»
Angela had matured so much in these few weeks. The woman who had sold my things without consulting me was now carefully investigating every financial decision. The suffering had made her more responsible but also more fragile.
That night, while she was organizing the debt documents on the table, I received a call from Mr. Peterson. «Mrs. Brooks, I have a full report on Edward’s debts. The situation is worse than I thought.»
«How much worse?»
«He owes over $200,000 to several banks and also has debts with private lenders. What’s more concerning is that he used falsified documents with your daughter’s signature for some of these loans. That means Angela is legally responsible.»
«It’s complicated. If we can prove she didn’t know, we might be able to get her out of some of the debts. But it’s going to be a long and expensive process.»
«How expensive?»
«For a good lawyer specializing in these types of cases, probably $50,000, and there’s no guarantee of success.»
«I understand. And what if she just pays the debts?»
«If she has the money, that would be the fastest solution, but I doubt she has access to that amount.»
«Mr. Peterson, I want you to prepare all the necessary documents to get my daughter out of these debts, but don’t tell her anything yet.»
«You’re going to pay, Mrs. Brooks?»
«I’m going to do whatever is necessary to protect my daughter, but this has to be handled in a very specific way.»
