Chapter 1

The daughter I had raised for thirteen years took all 156 deposits in the college fund I had built for her and used them to buy an apartment for the birth mother who had abandoned her.

My husband did more than authorize the transfer.

At our daughter's seventeenth birthday party, he stood beside that woman and placed the apartment key in her hand himself.

The bank's security alert reached me three seconds before the applause filled the ballroom.

The account balance had dropped from $156,000 to zero.

I was still staring at my phone when Phoebe placed the key, tied with a white satin ribbon, into Vera's hand.

"Welcome home, Mom."

The word came so naturally to her.

As if I had not been the one who stayed awake all night whenever she had a fever.

As if I had not taken her to her first day of school, helped her get ready for her first dance, or held her after her first heartbreak.

Vera's eyes filled with tears as she pulled Phoebe into her arms.

Conrad stood beside them, applauding with a tenderness I had not seen on his face in years.

Not one of them looked at me.

I walked over to the cake.

"Phoebe, what happened to your college fund?"

The applause stopped.

Her expression froze for a second. Then she lifted her chin.

"I used it."

"To buy this apartment?"

She did not answer.

Conrad came over and stepped in front of her, just as he always did.

"I signed the authorization."

Phoebe was still a minor.

Without her legal guardian's approval, she could not have withdrawn a single dollar.

They had planned this together.

They had discussed my money, predicted my reaction, and even decided that I would be the one to clean up the mess afterward.

"That was her college fund." I looked at Conrad.

"The money was always meant for her." His brows drew together. "She has the right to decide how to use it."

"Her enrollment deposit is due next month."

Phoebe finally spoke.

"Dad said you could put the money back."

She said it as if there were nothing more obvious in the world.

Vera held the key and sighed softly.

"Talia, please don't ruin Phoebe's birthday over money. Conrad told me family helps one another and solves problems together."

I looked at her.

Her voice was perfectly gentle, but there was a faint smile hidden in her eyes.

So she knew exactly what role I played in this family.

Not wife.

Not mother.

Just the woman who always paid, always forgave, and stayed behind to clean up after everyone else.

I turned to Phoebe. "Do you think I should replace the money too?"

She tightened her hold on Vera's arm.

"You said you saved it because you loved me."

"Now that I've found my real mother, does that mean you don't love me anymore?"

Conrad lowered his voice in warning.

"She only wanted to give her birth mother a home. Don't turn everything you've done for her into a weapon to control her."

I did not argue.

I asked him one question instead.

"Do you have any idea what it took me to earn that $1,000 every month?"

He frowned as if I had asked something utterly pointless.

"It came from those little freelance projects you do at home, didn't it? A thousand dollars a month was never that hard for you."

"You asked me to quit my job when Phoebe was four."

"What is the point of dragging up the past now?"

He turned away to comfort Phoebe.

He did not see my fingers tightening around my phone.

Then again, he had never seen the kitchen light still burning at three in the morning.

I opened my banking app.

On this same date thirteen years earlier, I had deposited the first $1,000.

After that, the same amount went into the account on the same day every month.

One hundred and fifty-six transfers, never a single one late.

The screen said the next automatic transfer would be completed in three days.

I tapped Cancel.

There would be no 157th transfer.