“You need to. They’re already trying to twist the story.”
She flipped to the article.
According to the piece, Mom had given an interview claiming I was unstable and had misunderstood what it meant to support family.
Scott walked into my office at that exact moment.
“Classic move,” he said. “When people get caught, they try to make the victim look crazy.”
My office phone lit up again.
Unknown number.
“They’ve been using different numbers all week,” Helen said.
I hit speaker.
“Hello?”
It was my aunt Christina.
“Jacqueline, how could you do this to your own parents? They’re heartbroken. Lauren’s reputation is ruined.”
“Their reputation?”
I kept my voice calm.
“You mean the reputation built on stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from me? On faking my signature? On using my identity for loans?”
“They’re family,” she said. “Family helps each other.”
I started flipping through the papers on my desk.
“Really? Because I have proof right here that they used your name too. Want me to tell you how much debt they put under your identity?”
The line went dead.
Helen grinned.
“That shut her up.”
My email pinged.
A message from Detective Victoria.
Subject line: Thought you should see this.
Attached was a screenshot of Lauren’s latest social media post.
My sister destroyed our family because she’s jealous of my success. Now she’s trying to send our parents to jail. Please share our fundraiser to help with legal costs.
Helen grabbed her phone.
“Oh no. I’m reporting that.”
Scott didn’t even look up.
“Already did. And I sent the screenshots to the prosecutor. They’re claiming they’re broke in court while begging for money online.”
Then my desk phone rang again.
Justin.
“Come to my office,” he said. “There’s something you need to see.”
When I got there, more papers were spread across his desk.
“Your sister’s been busy. She tried to open credit cards at seven different banks using your job title as support. And when that didn’t work, she used our company’s name.”
“She what?”
He handed me another letter.
“She also applied at our biggest competitor, claiming she was a junior analyst here and listing you as her reference again.”
I reached for my phone.
“I’ll add it to the report.”
“No need,” he said with a small smile. “I already did.”
Then he leaned back.
“But that’s not the only reason I called you in. The board saw how you handled all this. They were impressed. They’re offering you a promotion. Senior risk analyst.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“You uncovered fraud in your own life and had the integrity to report it. That’s exactly the kind of judgment we want in risk management.”
When I got back to my office, Helen and Scott were waiting.
“Well?” Helen demanded.
I sat down slowly.
“I got promoted.”
She squealed and hugged me.
“Told you karma works both ways.”
Just then, an email came in from my parents’ lawyer.
They were willing to take a plea deal, but wanted me to write the judge asking for leniency.
“Delete it,” Scott said immediately.
“No.”
I started typing.
Dear Mr. Gregory,
My parents and sister committed financial fraud over many years. They stole my identity, used forged signatures, and took hundreds of thousands of dollars from me. They showed no regret until they were caught. Even now, they are trying to twist the story and make me the villain. I will not be writing a letter asking for a lighter sentence. Instead, I will be submitting a victim statement that explains every false loan, every forged signature, every dollar taken, and every attempt they made to ruin my name when I finally stood up for myself.
Regards,
Jacqueline
Helen read over my shoulder.
“Savage.”
