Chapter 5
A week passed.
I didn't come back.
He hadn't heard a single thing from me.
David started to feel something was off.
He hit me up on every social app he knew.
But it was like every message just disappeared into the void.
He was getting restless.
Not because he missed me, of course not.
It was because his life was spinning out of control.
No one made him breakfast anymore.
Dirty laundry piled up on the couch, with no one to wash it.
A layer of dust covered everything.
Takeout containers were stacking up in the corner.
He called Linda to vent.
"Mom, what's she trying to pull? Why isn't she back yet?"
Linda was getting impatient too.
"Come on, you're a grown man. Can't you manage without your wife?
"Don't you know how to cook or do your own laundry?"
"I don't have time for that!" David yelled.
Right in the middle of their argument, his phone buzzed with a text.
It was from the bank.
"Dear customer, your credit card ending in xxxx has a current bill of 2,250 dollars. Payment is due by the 20th of this month."
David's card, of course.
And I'd always been the one footing the bill.
Always using our shared account for that.
The same account that now had a grand total of $0.40 left in it.
David took a screenshot and sent it to Linda.
"Mom, this needs to be paid."
There was a long pause on the other end.
"Got it," Linda said, her voice cold and sharp.
She transferred 2,000 dollars to David.
She felt every dollar sting as she sent it.
That four hundred thousand dollars she'd been hoarding was meant to multiply, not get drained on these little bills.
*****
Day after day went by.
David started hitting up Linda for cash more and more often.
"Mom, I need gas money."
"Mom, the utility bills just came in."
"Mom, I want to get some new sneakers."
Finally, Linda lost it.
"David! Are you my son or are you my master?
"Where's your wife? Go get her back and have her pay up!"
"She's gone! Where am I supposed to find her?" David Shaw shouted, completely losing control.
"Her phone isn't answering, and she's nowhere to be found! Do you think I don't want to find her?"
Linda was stunned by his outburst.
She hung up the phone.
She stared at the numbers in her bank account.
Suddenly, something hit her.
Something a hundred times more important than utility bills or credit card statements.
She had bought an investment property in our hometown under David and my names.
The down payment came from David's salary for those two years.
The monthly payment was 7,000 dollars.
I've been the one making the payments all this time.
Linda never even asked which account the money was coming from.
All she cared about was that the money went out on time every month.
She shot to her feet.
She rummaged through every drawer and cabinet, eventually pulling out the loan contract.
The repayment date.
It was the 25th of every month.
Tomorrow would be the 25th.
Linda broke out in a cold sweat.
She immediately called the bank's account manager.
Her voice was trembling.
"Mark, can you check if this month's mortgage payment for my property has gone through yet?"
The account manager Mark Young replied quickly.
"No, not yet, Aunt Linda.
"Our system shows the repayment card you linked doesn't have enough funds."
There wasn't enough money.
"So there's nothing left on that card?" Linda asked.
"Yep, not a single dollar," Mark replied.
Linda's vision went black.
She immediately called David.
Linda shouted, "Go to Emily's company, now!
"Find her for me! Right now! Immediately!"
David was startled by his mother's outburst.
He didn't dare ask anything else and headed straight to my company.