Chapter 4 - The Family Meeting
By evening, everyone knew I had gone to the police.
Mom called seventeen times.
Dad called six.
Jason sent one message.
YOU’RE DEAD TO ME.
I forwarded it to Detective Reed.
Then I blocked him.
The next morning, Mom called the nurses’ station at the hospital.
My supervisor, Denise, found me near the medication room.
“Your mother says there’s a family emergency.”
I looked at her.
“There isn’t.”
Denise studied my face.
“You okay?”
“No.”
She waited.
“But I will be.”
Denise nodded.
“That’s enough for today.”
After my shift, Dad was waiting beside my car.
I stopped twenty feet away.
He looked smaller than he had two days earlier.
“Laura.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Your mother is falling apart.”
“Interesting.”
He flinched.
“We need to talk.”
“Then talk.”
“Not here.”
“Here is fine.”
He glanced around the hospital parking garage.
“Jason is scared.”
“He should be.”
“He could lose everything.”
I almost laughed.
“He took everything I had.”
“That’s different.”
There it was.
The family rule.
Jason’s future was sacred.
Mine was replaceable.
Dad stepped closer.
“He was trying to start a business.”
“Horizon Auto Group?”
His face changed.
That answered another question.
“You knew.”
“He had an opportunity.”
“With my money.”
“He was going to pay you back.”
“When?”
Dad looked away.
“He needed capital.”
“So you gave him my identification?”
Silence.
“Dad.”
“Your mother handled the paperwork.”
I stared at him.
The casual betrayal stunned me more than Jason’s theft.
“You knew she was using my documents?”
“He said it was temporary.”
“Identity theft isn’t temporary.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like we’re criminals.”
I stepped closer.
“You stole my money and used my identity.”
“We are your parents.”
“That doesn’t change the definition.”
His face tightened.
Then his voice dropped.
“If you continue this, Jason could go to prison.”
I held his gaze.
“That’s not my decision.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No. His decisions brought him here.”
Dad stared at me.
For once, I didn’t rescue him from the silence.
Finally, he whispered, “Your mother won’t forgive you.”
I opened my car door.
“She already helped steal thirty-eight thousand dollars from me.”
May you like
I looked at him one last time.
“I think I’ll survive her disappointment.”
