“Mom, Starting Next Month, We’ll Transfer All Your Money To My Account.” My Son Said That, And I Just Smiled. That Night, As Always, He Came With His Wife For A Free Dinner.

It’s for practicality.”

Practicality? That word echoed in my head. Practicality for who?

I asked myself, but I didn’t say it out loud. I took the pen he offered me. I held it in my hand.

And for a moment, I was about to sign. I was about to hand over everything because that’s what I had always done. Trust.

Hand over. But then I remembered Friday night. I remembered his face full of fury when he saw the empty house.

I remembered his words. I remembered how he had threatened me, even though he probably didn’t even realize that was a threat. I put the pen down on the table.

“You know what, Lawrence? Give me a few days to think about it. I want to read everything carefully.

I want to be sure.”

His expression changed just for a second. Just a flash of irritation that crossed his face before he smiled again. “Mom, there’s nothing to think about.

It’s simple, but fine. If you want to take a few days, that’s okay.”

He left then, but he left the papers as if he assumed I would end up signing them anyway. That night, I couldn’t sleep.

I stayed up looking at those papers on the kitchen table. And something inside me told me that this wasn’t for my own good, that this was the beginning of something I couldn’t undo once it started. The next day I went to the bank.

I went early before my job. I asked the teller to check my account to show me all the transaction from the last 6 months. She printed the papers.

They were several pages. I checked them carefully line by line. And then I saw it.

Continue reading…