Chapter 4 - The House of Cards Collapses
I placed my phone on the metal table and slid it toward the center.
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice twenty thousand dollars missing from my savings account?" I asked her quietly. "Did you think I was just going to blindly hand you three thousand dollars a month and never look at the bank statements?"
Teresa swallowed hard, her eyes darting around the room like a trapped rat. "I... I was protecting your assets! Amy is irresponsible! She's a gold digger! I was putting the money into a trust for Frederick!"
"You put it in a trust under your name and Mason's name," Detective Ramirez interjected, tossing a stack of printed bank statements onto the table. "Our financial crimes unit pulled the records this morning based on the evidence your son provided. You didn't just steal from his savings. You’ve been skimming off his monthly deposits for over a year. That’s wire fraud. A federal offense."
"And then there's the house," I continued, leaning forward. "You needed the house. But you couldn't get it while Amy was in the picture. The plan was to forge my signature on a quitclaim deed, have Mason notarize it, file it with the county, and then evict Amy while I was out of town on a construction project. You were going to tell me she had a mental breakdown and abandoned the baby."
The public defender leaned away from Teresa, his face pale. "Mrs. Bradley, I strongly advise you to invoke your right to remain silent."
"Shut up!" Teresa snapped at the lawyer, though her voice trembled. She looked back at me, tears streaming down her face—fake, crocodile tears that had worked on me for twenty-five years. But not anymore.
"Connor, baby, please," she sobbed, reaching across the table. "It was just a misunderstanding. I love you. I love Frederick. We're family! You can't let them put your mother in prison. Family protects family!"
I didn't flinch. I didn't move my hands. I just looked at her with pure disgust.
"Family does protect family," I agreed. "That's why I'm destroying you. To protect my family. My wife. My son. You are nothing to me anymore."
I stood up, pushing the chair back. "Mason already confessed, by the way."
It was a bluff, but a calculated one. Teresa's eyes widened in sheer terror.
"He... he did?"
"He folded ten minutes after we put him in a holding cell," Detective Ramirez lied smoothly, backing up my play. "Told us the whole scheme was your idea. Said you promised him a thirty percent cut of the house sale. He’s taking a plea deal to testify against you for the forgery."
"That little rat!" Teresa screamed, her true colors exploding in a violent burst of rage. "It was his idea to use his notary stamp! He said it would be foolproof! I did all the heavy lifting! I suffered in that house with that miserable girl for months!"
Detective Ramirez smiled thinly. "Thank you for the confession, Mrs. Bradley. We have it all on tape."
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Teresa suddenly realized what she had just done. She slumped back in her chair, her mouth opening and closing like a suffocating fish. The grand illusion she had built, the arrogant kingdom she ruled over in my backyard, had completely collapsed in less than twelve hours.
I turned and walked out of the interrogation room. I didn't look back when she started screaming my name.
