Chapter 3

At three that afternoon, Fiona called.

Ryan's wife had always been good at sounding gentle when she wanted something.

"Ethan, it's Fiona. Can we talk? Your mother is beside herself. Why did you freeze the card and make the whole family suffer?"

"Maya is in the hospital. I need the money for her care."

"But you're not poor. You make more than all of us combined. Sending Ryan a little help won't kill you."

"A little help? My mother moved more than a million dollars of my money into Ryan's life. His car, your condo, your renovation, his company. You know that better than I do."

"Are you accusing us of spending your money?"

"I'm not accusing. I'm stating a fact."

Someone whispered near her. Fiona's voice came back wet and sharp.

"You're trying to break up a family. Your mother cried all morning. Gordon said-"

"Gordon is not my father."

I hung up.

Maya pushed herself higher against the pillows. "Was that your mother again?"

I sat beside her. The truth was ugly, but leaving her blind had already cost us one life.

"There's something I should have told you. The money we've saved for three years is mostly gone. My mother moved it to Ryan."

Maya stared at me.

"How much?"

"More than a million dollars."

Her fingers dug into my wrist. "But you sent her almost everything. We lived like that because you said she was keeping it safe."

"I know."

Her eyes filled. Not anger first. Fear.

That was what broke me. In the last life, fear had become despair while I stood useless outside an operating room.

I covered her hand with mine. "They can't touch the rest now. I froze every account. You stay here and focus on you and the baby. I'll take care of the rest."

That evening, my mother came to the hospital carrying a bag of fruit.

She smiled at Maya first. "How are you feeling, dear?"

Maya looked at me and said nothing.

I stood. "Good. You're here. Let's talk face-to-face."

"I came to see Maya. Don't make a scene in a hospital."

"I won't. Answer a few questions."

I opened the bank statements on my phone.

"August 2021. Fifty-two thousand dollars transferred to Ryan Cole. Note: vehicle down payment."

Her face tightened.

"March 2022. One hundred thirty thousand to Ryan. Condo down payment. September through December, ninety-four thousand to Fiona Liu for renovation. From January last year to now, more than six hundred thousand to Evercrest Technologies. Legal representative, Ryan Cole."

I looked up. "Mom, how much is left?"

The plastic bag crackled in her hand.

"You shouldn't be looking into this."

"Why not? It's my money."

"You gave it to your mother to manage. How I use it is my business."

"Giving Ryan my salary is not managing it."

"Ryan has had a hard life. He had nothing."

"He had nothing because he never kept a job for longer than four months. The car is mine. The condo is mine. The company is mine. You put his name on all of it."

"He is your brother."

"He is Gordon Cole's son. He is not my brother."

My mother swayed as if I had struck her.

"I called Gordon Dad for twenty years," I said. "I called Ryan my brother for twenty years. I paid the bills for that house for twenty years. I'm done."

"Ungrateful boy. I raised-"

"You raised me. I owe you care in your old age. I do not owe Ryan a company bought with the money that should have saved my wife."

I pointed to Maya's bed.

"If Maya needed life-saving money today, would you give it to me? Yes or no."

My mother opened her mouth.

No sound came out.

Ten seconds passed.

"I have my answer," I said. "Go home."

She left the fruit outside the door. I did not touch it.