Chapter 7 - The Receipts on the Table
Mom froze, her fake tears drying instantly. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she stared at the thick binder on the table.
"What is that garbage?" Mom snapped, dropping the fragile facade. "Are you bringing work spreadsheets into a family discussion?"
"This isn't work," I said calmly. I unzipped the binder and laid out three separate manila folders in front of Uncle Dave and Aunt Clara. "This is the paper trail."
Uncle Dave frowned, adjusting his reading glasses as he picked up the top folder. "What am I looking at, Sylvia?"
"That is a sworn affidavit from Amazon’s fraud prevention division," I explained clearly. "It shows an order placed using my saved payment credentials, submitted from Mom’s home IP address, delivered to Briana’s address. But that's just the tip of the iceberg."
I pushed the second folder forward. "That is a printout of Briana's credit report, pulled yesterday with her consent. Mom took out an eight-thousand-dollar unsecured loan in Briana’s name three months ago. Uncle Dave, check the bank account where the funds were deposited."
Uncle Dave’s eyebrows shot up. He squinted at the bank account number, then turned slowly toward Mom. "Brenda... that’s your personal checking account at First National. The one you said had no money in it when you asked to borrow five grand from Clara last winter."
Aunt Clara gasped, standing up so fast her tea spilled onto the coaster. "You told me you were going to be evicted, Brenda! You took five thousand dollars from my retirement fund!"
"It was for Briana!" Mom shrieked, slamming her palms against the table. "I did everything for my girls! Sylvia has plenty of money tucked away in her miserable little bank account, living like a pauper while working forty hours a week! She could have absorbed the cost! She’s selfish! She’s always been jealous of Briana’s beauty and charm!"
"Jealous?" The front door clicked open.
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Briana walked into the dining room. Her designer makeup was gone, her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and she wore an oversized gray hoodie. Her eyes were red, but her posture was taller than I had ever seen it.
"You didn't do anything for me, Mom," Briana said, her voice shaking with quiet fury. "You used my name to ruin my life before it even started."