Chapter 4 - The First Crack
The very next morning, my phone started ringing endlessly.
I ignored the first ten calls. On the eleventh, I finally answered.
"Maya, you need to stop this right now," my mother’s frantic voice came through the speaker.
"Stop what, Mom? Taking back what you stole?"
"We didn't steal anything!" she practically screamed. "Your father made a bad investment, okay? He was trying to double her money!"
"By leaving her at the airport? By telling her to take a cab home?"
"That was a misunderstanding. We panicked."
"You didn't panic," I said coldly. "You planned it. You used her money for a down payment on a commercial property."
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
"How did you find out about that?" she whispered.
"Public records, Mom. You guys aren't exactly criminal masterminds."
I hung up and blocked her number.
I walked into the living room, where Grandma Hazel was sipping her morning tea. Mr. Sterling was sitting on the sofa, typing rapidly on his laptop.
"They're panicking," I told him. "My mother just tried to claim it was an investment."
Sterling didn't look up from his screen. "Let them panic. People make mistakes when they panic."
"What's our next move?" I asked.
"We wait," Sterling said. "I filed an emergency injunction this morning to freeze the assets of Apex Holdings."
Grandma looked up, her hands shaking slightly. "Does that mean they can't sell the property?"
"Exactly, Mrs. Vance," Sterling smiled kindly at her. "They are trapped. And soon, they will start turning on each other."
As if on cue, a heavy knock echoed through the house.
I walked to the front window and peeked through the blinds.
Aunt Linda was standing on the porch. She looked disheveled, her expensive sunglasses pushed up into her messy hair.
"It's Linda," I said, turning back to Sterling.
"Perfect," he closed his laptop. "Let her in. But let me do the talking."
I opened the front door.
Aunt Linda pushed past me without a word, marching straight into the living room.
May you like
"Hazel, you have to call this off," Linda pleaded, ignoring me entirely. "David is going to lose everything."
Grandma set her teacup down very carefully. "I think David already lost everything the moment he left me at that airport, Linda."
