Chapter 5 - The Fall of Owen
Richard flinched as if struck by a whip, burying his face against the silk roses of my skirt.
"We were desperate, Victoria!" Richard wailed, his breath trembling. "We were young and stupid! We didn't know what we were doing!"
"You were forty-two years old, Richard," I stated coldly. "You were old enough to steal my Social Security number to lease a Mercedes while I slept on an iron cot in a foster dormitory."
Eleanor looked up, her red-rimmed eyes pleading frantically. "Victoria, listen to your mother! We lost everything! The bank repossessed our home in Virginia last month. The IRS seized Richard's pension for back taxes. We have nowhere to go! We haven't eaten a hot meal in three days!"
"Where is Owen?" I asked, looking past them at the empty gate. "Where is your golden boy? The one who deserved wool coats while I got a garbage bag?"
Eleanor broke into fresh, hysterical sobs, while Richard looked down at the marble stones in bitter shame.
"Owen... Owen is in a federal holding facility in Atlanta," Eleanor choked out. "He got involved in real estate fraud and crypto scams trying to maintain his lifestyle... He took out loans in our name, forged our signatures, and wiped out our remaining life savings before the FBI raided his firm."
A slow, bitter smile touched my lips.
May you like
The cycle had completed itself. The child they had spoiled with stolen money had learned their lessons too well. He had treated them with the exact same ruthless deceit they had inflicted upon me.
"So when your golden child abandoned you," I said softly, "you remembered the daughter you threw in the trash."
