Chapter 3 - WHY MOM HAD TO LEAVE
The accusation against my mother finally made sense.
Not emotionally.
Strategically.
Beatrice had seen the wire receipt.
Dustin knew she had.
He could not risk her asking me about Cabrillo Point before he figured out what to do.
So he needed her out.
Immediately.
But telling me:
Your mother saw evidence of my secret financial scheme, so I want her gone
would not work.
He needed a reason I might accept.
Theft.
And not a small theft.
$10,500.
Enough to sound serious.
Cash was perfect because it left almost no immediate record.
He could claim it existed.
Claim it disappeared.
Claim Mom was the only person near the drawer.
Then force me to choose.
If I sided with him, Beatrice would leave.
If I sided with her, perhaps I would leave too.
Either outcome bought Dustin time before I found the real money.
What he had not planned for was hitting her.
Maybe he thought humiliation would be enough.
Maybe anger took over.
I stopped trying to decide which version was better.
Neither was.
Police eventually interviewed him.
Dustin admitted striking Mom.
But called it “an impulsive reaction after being robbed.”
He insisted the $10,500 was real.
So Detective Martin Vega asked a simple question:
“Where did it come from?”
Dustin said he had withdrawn it from the bank.
“Which bank?”
Dustin named ours.
There was no $10,500 cash withdrawal.
He changed the story.
Maybe he had accumulated it over time.
From what?
Cash reimbursements.
Bonuses.
Side work.
No records.
Then investigators asked whether anyone else knew the cash existed.
Wyatt supposedly did.
Wyatt confirmed.
Unfortunately for both of them, Wyatt said he saw the money the week before.
Then Tristan said Dustin had only mentioned it after Mom was accused.
The stories were already separating.
Police were investigating the assault.
Paige and Elena focused on the money.
I focused on staying functional.
Mom stayed with my aunt Carmen.
I rented a small furnished apartment.
The first night alone, I stood in the kitchen staring at a refrigerator that contained four yogurts, eggs, lettuce, and absolutely nothing Dustin liked.
I cried.
Not because I missed him exactly.
Because seven years had habits.
His coffee mug.
His shoes near the door.
The text every afternoon:
Need anything?
The person who betrayed you does not become a stranger retroactively.
That is part of what makes betrayal hurt.
There were good days.
Real laughter.
Vacations.
Illnesses survived together.
He held me when my father died.
Then slapped my mother three months later.
Both belonged to the same man.
I had to learn that contradiction without using the good memories to erase the bad ones.
Two days later, Dustin finally responded to the divorce filing.
He did not apologize.
Instead, his attorney claimed I had “abandoned the marital residence” and emptied the relationship after “choosing my mother over my spouse.”
Paige laughed.
“He really wants to use that framing?”
“What does it matter?”
“It matters because we have the police report.”
Then Dustin made his next mistake.
He requested an accounting of marital finances.
Paige smiled.
“What?”
“Discovery works both directions.”
For the first time since leaving, I almost smiled too.
If Dustin wanted a full accounting—
May you like
he was going to get one.
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