Chapter 3 - The Mustang and the Mastermind
Two days after the surgery, the fog of the pain medication finally began to clear. I was sitting up in my hospital bed, standard plastic tubes delivering oxygen to my nose, when Chloe walked in with a tall, sharply dressed man in a dark charcoal suit.
"Emily," Chloe said, rushing to my side and carefully hugging me. "You look so much better. Your color is coming back."
"I feel lighter," I said, my voice raspy but clear. I looked at the man standing by the door. "Who is your friend?"
"This is David Sterling," Chloe said. "He’s a senior federal prosecutor and a donor to your cancer fund. He’s also a close friend of my dad's. Emily, I need to tell you what your mother and Brandon did with your money."
As Chloe explained the eighty-two thousand dollar theft and the purchase of the Mustang, a cold, heavy weight settled in my stomach. I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. The betrayal was so deep it had turned into an icy numbness. My own mother had looked at my cancer as a financial opportunity to pamper her golden-child son.
"Miss Carter," David Sterling said, stepping forward. He carried a leather briefcase, which he placed on the bedside table. "What your mother did is a federal crime. Because the crowdfunding platform is based in California and the wire transfer occurred in Massachusetts, this falls under interstate wire fraud. However, because you signed a general power of attorney to your mother when you were first diagnosed, we need you to officially revoke it and sign a declaration of identity theft."
I looked down at my hands, pale and covered in bruise marks from the IV lines. "If I sign this... what happens to my mother? What happens to Brandon?"
"Your mother will face federal charges," Sterling said honestly. "The minimum sentence for wire fraud of this magnitude is five years in a federal penitentiary. As for Brandon, because the vehicle was purchased with stolen funds and he was aware of the source, the vehicle will be seized by federal marshals, and he could be charged as an accessory after the fact."
I closed my eyes. I remembered Brandon smiling at his phone while I sat shaking in my blue gown. I remembered my mother coldly telling the nurse that I had already cost the family too much. They hadn't just abandoned me; they had tried to sign my death warrant for a piece of machinery.
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"Give me the pen," I said, opening my eyes.
With a steady hand, I signed the revocation papers. The Carters wanted a fresh start without me. Now, they were going to get exactly what they paid for.
