I Didn’t Pay For My Daughter-In-Law’s Luxury Party, So Things Escalated And I Nearly Lost My Balance:

She’ll buy anything if you say it’s for her health.”

“I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up,” Yara continued. “She’s not as stupid as she looks. Yesterday, she asked to see the mortgage statements.”

My blood had run cold.

I stood frozen in the hallway, listening to my son and daughter-in-law discuss me like I was a mark in some elaborate con game. “We just need to be patient,” Abram said. “The nursing home I looked at has an opening in 6 months.

Sunset Manor. It’s expensive, but once she’s there, we can handle her finances completely. power of attorney, the works.

And if she refuses to go, we’ll get a doctor to say she’s showing signs of dementia. Dr. Peterson owes me a favor from college.

It won’t be hard.”

I had backed away slowly, my heart pounding so loudly, I was sure they would hear it. That night, lying in bed, I made my decision. If they wanted to play games with my life and my money, I would play, too.

But I would play to win. The next morning, I started making calls. First to a lawyer downtown, one I had found through a colleague at the hospital, then to a real estate agent I had met at church.

The plan I developed over the following weeks was simple but effective. They thought I was weak because I was old. They thought I was helpless because I lived in their house, paid their bills, made their lives comfortable.

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