Chapter 5
I called 911 before I breathed.
My mother woke when she heard my voice.
“What is it?”
I showed her the screen.
Her face went white.
The banging started thirty seconds later.
Hard.
Fast.
Victor’s voice came through the door.
“Anna!”
My mother covered her mouth.
I pulled her into the bedroom and locked the door.
“Stay here.”
“No, no, don’t go near him.”
“I’m not.”
I stood in the hallway with my phone in my hand.
“Police are coming,” I shouted.
The banging stopped.
Then Victor laughed.
“You think I’m scared of police?”
I said nothing.
He lowered his voice.
“You really want them to know about your mother?”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“You think I was the only one taking money?”
My mother whispered behind me, “Anna?”
Victor continued through the door.
“You think Ruth’s accounts are clean? Ask her about the transfer from your savings.”
I froze.
My savings?
“What is he talking about?” I asked.
My mother opened the bedroom door slowly.
Her face was blank with shock.
“I don’t know.”
Victor shouted, “She signed it.”
Mara had warned us.
When exposed, men like Victor throw mud in every direction.
Still, fear worked.
It always finds old doors.
The police arrived and arrested him for violating the emergency protective order Mara had filed electronically after dinner.
He looked stunned when they cuffed him.
“This is insane,” he said.
Detective Alvarez stood beside the officers.
“You were told not to contact them tonight.”
“She’s my wife.”
“And she told you no.”
I held my mother’s hand as they led him away.
But his words stayed.
The next morning, Mara pulled bank records.
There it was.
A transfer from my savings account.
Twenty-two thousand dollars.
Authorized three months earlier.
Recipient account: Ruth Ellis.
My mother started shaking.
“I never received that.”
Mara’s eyes narrowed.
“No,” she said.
“You didn’t.”
She turned the laptop toward us.
The account had my mother’s name.
But the mailing address was not hers.
It was a private mailbox Victor rented downtown.
May you like
My husband had not only stolen from my mother.
He had created a fake account in her name to steal from me too.
