He didn’t look at her.
“And tomorrow, you’re giving me a complete list.”
“A list of what?”
“Every debt.”
His voice remained calm.
“Every loan. Every credit card. Every person you borrowed from. Every lie you used to get money.”
Lauren’s face went pale.
“What are you saying?”
Kyle picked up his keys.
“I’m saying I’m not going home with you tonight.”
“Kyle.”
“And you never ask my mother for another cent.”
For the first time since I had known Lauren, she had absolutely nothing to say.
Kyle slept on Mom’s couch that night.
By morning, Lauren had sent him a list of debts he never knew existed.
Kyle never told me exactly what happened to their marriage afterward.
He didn’t need to.
The next morning, I drove Mom to an appliance store.
She chose a simple white refrigerator with a bottom freezer.
And she paid for it using the money Kyle’s check had returned to her emergency savings.
Six months earlier, I had stood in Ethan’s apartment staring at the edge of a photograph and convinced myself not to investigate because I was terrified of being wrong.
This time, when something didn’t make sense, I didn’t silence myself.
I looked closer.
I asked questions.
And most importantly, I refused to let anyone convince me that what I was seeing wasn’t real.
