Chapter 6 - The Mother’s Ambush
Before I even had the chance to call Kevin, the trap caught an unexpected intruder.
It was late afternoon, and the federal technicians had just cleared out of the house.
I was standing in the kitchen, brewing a pot of chamomile tea to calm my entirely shattered nerves.
Suddenly, I heard the distinct sound of a key turning in the lock of the back door.
I froze, my hand hovering over the silent panic button concealed beneath the granite countertop.
The heavy wooden door pushed open, and my mother crept into the mudroom, looking around suspiciously.
She had kept an emergency spare key for years, one that I had stupidly forgotten to ask for when the fighting began.
I watched in silent disbelief as she tiptoed into the living room, heading straight for my grandfather's antique desk.
She was carrying a large canvas tote bag and frantically began pulling open the heavy oak drawers.
She was searching for the original copies of the trust documents and the property deed.
"Can I help you find something, Mom?" I asked loudly, stepping out from the kitchen hallway.
My mother jumped violently, dropping a stack of old envelopes onto the hardwood floor.
She clutched her chest, her face turning a guilty, ghostly shade of white.
"Rachel!" she gasped, trying to recover her composure. "I was just... I came to check on you."
"You came to check on me by sneaking through the back door and ransacking my desk?" I challenged, my voice dripping with absolute disgust.
She straightened her posture, her initial guilt quickly morphing into a defensive, indignant rage.
"I am trying to save your brother's life!" she yelled, gesturing wildly to the scattered papers.
"If I can find the original deed, I can take it to the loan sharks and buy him some time!"
"The original deed is locked in a federal evidence vault, Mom," I revealed, crossing my arms over my chest.
Her eyes widened in horror as the true gravity of my words slowly washed over her.
"Federal evidence?" she whispered, stumbling backward until she hit the edge of the sofa.
"Yes," I confirmed, stepping closer to her. "The FBI has been investigating Kevin's crypto scam for months."
"They know about the forged deed, they know about the Chicago syndicate, and now they have you on tape breaking into my home."
I pointed to the tiny, invisible camera hidden seamlessly inside the living room smoke detector.
My mother looked up at the ceiling, a look of pure, unadulterated panic completely overtaking her features.
"You set us up," she cried, tears of frustration streaming down her perfectly powdered cheeks.
"No, Mom," I said, shaking my head with a profound sense of sorrow.
"I just stopped protecting you from the consequences of your own terrible actions."
"Get out of my house, and never, ever come back."
May you like
She grabbed her empty canvas bag and ran out the back door, sobbing uncontrollably.
I watched her drive away, knowing it was the last time I would ever speak to her as a daughter.
