Chapter 4 - The Confrontation
The drive to my mother's suburban house took fifteen minutes. My knuckles were white on the steering wheel the entire way.
When I pulled up to the curb, I saw Evan’s luxury sedan parked in the driveway alongside my sister's car. Good. The entire team was assembled under one roof.
I didn't knock. I used the key I still had on my ring, unlocked the front door, and walked straight into the living room.
My mother was sitting on the sofa with a mug of coffee, while Nicole and Evan sat at the dining table with a laptop open, presumably looking at engagement venues.
When Nicole saw me walk in holding a thick manila folder, she folded her arms and let out a dramatic sigh. "Oh look, the martyr has arrived. Did you bring Ava, or are you keeping her hidden away to make us feel guilty?"
My mother stood up, smoothing her sweater. "Maya, I hope you've used the drive over here to think about your behavior. You embarrassed this entire family yesterday over a misunderstanding."
"It wasn't a misunderstanding, Linda," I said, stepping up to the dining table and tossing the manila folder directly onto Nicole's laptop keyboard.
Evan frowned, sliding the folder off his screen. "What is this?"
"Open it," I commanded.
Nicole sneered, reaching out and flipping the cover open. The top document was the forged contract addendum, complete with the fake signature highlighted in yellow ink, followed by the bank statement showing the $1,200 pending charge on my account.
As Nicole scanned the page, the color slowly drained from her face. Her arrogant demeanor collapsed into a moment of genuine panic.
"Where did you get this?" Nicole whispered.
"I called Brenda at Grandview Manor this morning," I said, keeping my voice level and deadly calm. "She was more than happy to forward the modification request you and Mom submitted on Friday afternoon. The one where you forged my name to alter my $5,000 event contract."
My mother’s jaw dropped. "Maya... we didn't forge anything! We just... we helped you fill out the paperwork because you were working!"
"You signed my name on a legal contract, Mom," I turned my glare to her. "You systematically redirected the photographer I paid for, canceled my daughter's catering schedule, and fraudulently authorized a twelve-hundred-dollar charge on my credit card so your thirty-two-year-old daughter could have an open bar."
Evan looked up from the documents, his brow furrowed in sudden, deep concern. He looked at Nicole. "Nicole... did you sign her name on this?"
"Evan, it wasn't a big deal!" Nicole stammered, her voice rising in pitch as she tried to spin the narrative. "Maya was already paying for the hall! We just added a few extra amenities for our news! She's making this into a legal thing because she's jealous that I'm getting married!"
"Jealous?" I let out a sharp, cold laugh that startled everyone in the room. "I spent six months working double shifts in the emergency room to give my nine-year-old daughter a moment of happiness after her life was upended. And you stole it from her because you couldn't bear the thought of a child having one afternoon where the attention wasn't on you."
"Maya, listen to yourself!" my mother interjected, stepping between us. "It's family! We share things! You are acting completely unhinged over some paperwork!"
"It's not just paperwork, Mom," I said, leaning down until I was inches from Nicole's terrified face. "It's forgery. It's grand larceny. And it's credit card fraud."
I reached out and pulled the folder back toward me.
"I am giving you exactly two options, Nicole," I stated clearly. "Option one: Evan writes me a cashier's check right now for the $1,200 you fraudulently charged to my card, plus a full $5,000 reimbursement for the venue contract you rendered unusable for my daughter."
May you like
Nicole gasped. "Six thousand two hundred dollars?! Are you insane?!"
"Option two," I continued, ignoring her entirely as I looked at Evan. "I take this forged document, the surveillance footage Grandview Manor has of you two handing it to the front desk, and my bank statements directly to the precinct station downtown and file a criminal report."
