## PART 3

The following Monday, my family appeared unexpectedly at my apartment.

Mom stood outside with Brittany and Jason.

I opened the door but didn’t invite them in.

“Fix this,” Mom demanded.

“Fix what?”

“The resort!”

Brittany pushed forward.

“We’re leaving next week! The kids are excited!”

“Then pay for your vacation.”

Jason laughed bitterly.

“You’re seriously doing this over thirteen grand?”

I faced him.

“Yes. Thirteen thousand dollars you tried to take from my personal account.”

Mom pointed at me.

“You’re going to destroy this family over money?”

“No. I’m protecting myself from people who believe my money belongs to them.”

She reached inside her purse.

“Fine! I’ll show you the authorization!”

She pulled out a crumpled document.

I immediately recognized the supposed authorization letter the resort had already sent me.

“Where did you get my signature?”

Mom hesitated.

“From your old paperwork.”

Brittany’s eyes widened.

“Mom, you said Claire approved everything.”

“She was supposed to!” Mom snapped.

Jason stepped back.

“Wait. You signed for her?”

Mom flushed red.

“Don’t make this complicated!”

I took a breath.

“My attorney has the records. The bank has opened a fraud investigation. The resort has been informed that I never authorized these charges.”

For the first time, Mom looked scared.

“You reported your own mother?”

“I reported what happened.”

“You could get me arrested!”

“Then you should have considered that before using my identity.”

Brittany’s phone rang.

She checked the screen.

“It’s the resort.”

She answered.

Her expression changed.

“What do you mean the reservation isn’t guaranteed?”

She paused.

“But we already paid the deposit!”

Another pause.

“WHAT?”

She lowered her phone.

“The resort removed Claire’s deposit credit from our booking. They say we have to provide our own payment method and settle the outstanding balance.”

Jason faced Mom.

“You told us everything was covered!”

She looked cornered.

“It was supposed to be!”

“With Claire’s money?” he demanded.

Nobody responded.

Mom finally turned to me.

“Sweetheart, please. We can’t afford this.”

There it was again.

No apology or regret.

Just another demand disguised as affection.

“You can cancel,” I answered.

“The cancellation charges are enormous!” Brittany cried.

“Then take that up with the resort.”

Mom burst into tears.

“You’ve changed, Claire.”

“Yes,” I said. “I have.”

I shut the door.

Over the following weeks, their plans collapsed.

The resort canceled their upgraded reservation when they failed to provide payment. My family lost the money they’d personally committed under the booking terms.

Brittany blamed Mom.

Jason demanded reimbursement for his nonrefundable airline tickets.

Dad, who’d remained silent at Thanksgiving, called to apologize.

But when I asked why he hadn’t defended me, he confessed:

“Your mother told us you’d pay eventually.”

That hurt more than I’d expected.

My lawyer demanded repayment of my original deposit and warned Mom against any further misuse of my identity.

The bank confirmed the attempted transfer was unauthorized. Nothing had been taken from my account.

Eventually, Mom agreed through a written settlement to repay my deposit in installments.

The separate investigation into the forged authorization remained ongoing.