Chapter 2
I turned slowly toward my sister.
She realized her mistake immediately. Her mouth fell open, then shut, but it was too late.
My mother narrowed her eyes. “Brittany, what is she talking about?”
I reached into my laptop bag and pulled out a folder. My hands were shaking, but my voice wasn’t. “Three weeks ago, I got a call from a fraud investigator at my bank.”
Brittany’s face went pale.
I placed the first document on the table. “Someone tried to open a business credit line using my name, my Social Security number, and a forged signature.”
My mother’s expression changed from anger to confusion. “What?”
I looked at Brittany. “The application listed me as a silent partner in your company.”
“That was a misunderstanding,” Brittany whispered.
“No. A misunderstanding is ordering the wrong coffee. This was identity theft.”
My father finally looked up.
I placed another page down. “Then I checked my credit report. Two cards I never opened. One personal loan I never signed. Total balance: $86,000.”
My mother turned to Brittany. “Tell me this isn’t true.”
Brittany started sobbing again, but now the tears looked different. Less wounded. More cornered.
“I was going to pay it back,” she said.
“With what?” I asked. “More stolen money?”
Mom grabbed the back of a chair like she might fall. “Brittany…”
But I wasn’t finished.
I pulled out the last document. “And here’s the best part. The lender who holds the $500,000 debt sent me copies of the paperwork. My name is listed as a guarantor.”
My father slammed his hand on the counter. “What?”
I looked him dead in the eyes. “My signature is forged there too.”
The kitchen exploded.
My father shouted at Brittany. My mother screamed that this couldn’t be happening. Brittany kept saying, “I panicked,” over and over, as if panic were a legal defense.
Then Mom turned back to me, and for one crazy second, I thought she would apologize.
Instead, she said, “Claire, please. If you report this, your sister could go to prison.”
I stared at her.
That was the moment I understood. She knew Brittany had done something wrong. Maybe not everything, but enough. And she still called me there to sacrifice myself.
“You’re worried about prison?” I asked quietly. “I’m worried about the fact that my own family tried to bury me alive financially.”
My father rubbed his face. “Claire, we can fix this.”
“No,” I said. “You can’t. Because fixing this would require all of you telling the truth.”
Brittany stood suddenly. “You won’t do it. You love me.”
May you like
I looked at the sister I had protected since we were kids.
Then I took out my phone.
