The Invisible Daughter Ruined Chapter 05
“Valedictorian?”
My mom’s voice went sharp enough to cut glass.
“What are you talking about? This is my daughter’s home!”
The man frowned, lowering his tape measure.
“Lady, I think you’ve got the wrong house.”
“We closed on this place yesterday. I’ve got the closing papers right
here. The previous owner was Elena. She told us she had no family
left.” He looked between them. “So which one is it?”
“Elena is our daughter!”
My dad lurched forward and grabbed the man’s collar.
“She’s my daughter!”
“Did you trick her into signing it? This was my mother’s house!
She’s just a kid. She can’t sell it without our permission!”
The man’s face went red. He shoved my dad off and straightened
his shirt with a look of pure disgust.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“She had her ID, the deed, everything. She’s eighteen. A legal adult.
She can sign whatever she wants. She doesn’t need your
permission.”
“The deed was in her name. Hers alone. The transfer is done. Every
part of it is legal. So what exactly are you accusing me of?”
My mom’s face drained of color.
“She’s still in school. She doesn’t know what she signed.”
This is a scam! You manipulated her!*
“Manipulated?”
The man laughed once, pulled a stack of papers from his briefcase,
and shoved them against my mom’s chest.
“Take a good look. Transfer taxes. Bank records. It’s all there.”
“Over a million dollars. Paid in full. Clean transaction. Your daughter handled the whole thing like she’d done it before. A lot more
reasonable than either of you”
“She’s a National Merit Scholar with a perfect GPA. You really think
a kid that smart got tricked?”
“A million dollars?*
“National Merit Scholar?*
My mom and dad looked at each other. Neither one could speak.
Then it hit my mom. ‘She took the whole million?”
“What else?”
The man didn’t even look at them anymore. “Get out.”
“This is our home now. We bought it fair and square for the school
district. I don’t need you two dragging your mess in here. Out.*
He put a hand on each of their backs and pushed them through the
door.
The steel door slammed behind them. The deadbolt clicked.
The stairwell went quiet.
My mom sagged against the wall, her vision swimming.
A million dollars. A perfect GPA. The words kept circling in her
head.
“Arthur. Do you think he was telling the truth?”
“How could Elena be at the top of her class?”
“She was never that good at school. Not when she was little.”
My dad dragged a hand down his face. “I don’t know. I can’t even
remember what she was like back then.”
“That can’t be right. I could’ve sworn…”
My mom stared at nothing.
She couldn’t remember either.
She’d just assumed. The child she hadn’t wanted couldn’t possibly
turn out to be anything special.
She already had a daughter heading to a good school. So the other
one didn’t matter. What difference did it make how she turned out?
But the daughter she forgot was the one who’d beaten everyone in
the district.
My mom’s hands were shaking as she pulled out her phone and.
dialed the number she thought she’d saved earlier.
“The number you have reached is no longer in service.”
She tried to text instead.
Her contacts opened, and it hit her. She’d never added Elena in the
first place.
My mom’s voice came out hollow. “She disconnected it. She really
disconnected her number.”
Then her head snapped toward my dad.
“Was this you?”
“Did you help her hide the money?”