CHAPTER 9
For several seconds, I thought I had misunderstood Phedra.
“Godfrey borrowed money in your name?”
She nodded.
“When?”
“Almost two years ago.”
My anger rose instantly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Selina said he would repay it.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Phedra flinched.
I stopped.
The tone in my own voice sounded too much like accusation.
I lowered it.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked down.
“I was ashamed.”
“You didn’t borrow it.”
“I signed.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Godfrey said he needed a guarantor for equipment.”
“So?”
“He promised it was only temporary.”
“Phedra.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“I know it was stupid.”
I moved closer.
“What did Selina say?”
“That family helps family.”
Of course.
Godfrey had needed a small loan when he first started repairing cars from a rented garage.
Phedra had a good credit history.
He convinced her to sign.
Then he missed payments.
Fees accumulated.
When Phedra threatened to tell me, Selina intervened.
“She said you were already stressed in Calgary.”
Phedra stared at her hands.
“She said if I told you, Godfrey would lose everything.”
“So you protected him.”
“I thought it would be a few months.”
“What happened?”
“They refinanced somehow.”
“With your permission?”
“No.”
That word changed everything.
Naomi arrived within an hour after I called.
She asked Phedra detailed questions.
Company names.
Dates.
Forms.
Phone calls.
Phedra remembered the lender.
Naomi contacted them with authorization.
By afternoon, another piece of the family puzzle fell into place.
Godfrey had not only failed to repay the loan.
A later restructuring document contained Phedra’s signature.
She swore she had never signed it.
Naomi stared at the scanned page.
“Who had access to samples of your signature?”
Phedra gave a sad laugh.
“Everyone in that house.”
My mother had spent four years controlling mail, bills, money, and paperwork.
Godfrey had needed signatures.
People trusted family.
That trust had become a business model.
When investigators learned about Phedra’s loan, the fraud case expanded.
I felt no satisfaction.
Every new discovery only showed me another year in which the people closest to me had been stealing from the woman I loved.
That evening, I asked Phedra something difficult.
“Why did you stay?”
She looked surprised.
“Where would I go?”
“You had friends.”
“They stopped visiting.”
“Why?”
“Selina told them I needed rest.”
My chest tightened.
“What about your cousin?”
“She moved.”
“You could have called me.”
“I tried.”
I looked away.
Phedra touched my hand.
“Damian, every answer sounds simple now.”
She was right.
“Back then, it happened slowly.”
She swallowed.
“At first, Selina was kind.”
I listened.
“When I was diagnosed, she came to the hospital.”
Phedra almost smiled.
“She held my hand.”
I could picture it.
“She cooked for me after my first treatment.”
Her eyes filled.
“Then the bills came.”
Selina began complaining.
Transportation was expensive.
Medicine cost too much.
Godfrey needed money.
The roof leaked.
Food prices increased.
Every week, Phedra became more expensive in Selina’s mind.
Then Godfrey started calling her lazy.
Selina stopped giving her cash.
The phone disappeared.
Meals became smaller.
The spare room became “needed for guests.”
Then came the shed.
“It never happened all at once,” Phedra whispered.
“That’s why I kept thinking it would get better.”
I understood.
Cruelty often survives because yesterday was slightly less terrible than today.
The next morning, Dr. Mensah gave us our first encouraging medical update.
Phedra’s blood work was improving.
Her body was tolerating treatment better than expected.
“We are not where I want you yet,” the doctor said, “but we are moving in the right direction.”
Phedra smiled.
That smile carried me through the next phone call.
Godfrey wanted to meet.
Not through Naomi.
Not through lawyers.
Just brothers.
I refused.
He sent another message.
Mom did everything. I can prove it.
I stared at the screen.
Then another arrived.
She made me use the papers.
I forwarded both to Naomi.
Her response came immediately.
Do not reply.
Ten minutes later:
He has counsel. Any communication should go through counsel.
Godfrey apparently decided rules no longer mattered.
He called.
I answered but said nothing.
“Damian.”
His voice sounded different.
No arrogance.
Fear.
“You need to help me.”
I almost laughed.
“With what?”
“Mom is blaming me.”
“And you’re blaming her.”
“She controlled the money.”
“You spent it.”
“She told me you agreed!”
“To what?”
“The shop.”
“I didn’t even know how much it cost.”
“You always said you wanted me stable.”
“So you forged my signature?”
Silence.
“Godfrey?”
“She said you wouldn’t mind.”
My whole body went still.
“You just admitted it.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“I’m saying hypothetically.”
Despite everything, I almost admired how quickly cowardice taught him legal vocabulary.
“Did Selina tell you to submit my passport?”
“I have to go.”
“Did she?”
He hung up.
Naomi was furious that I had answered.
Investigators were delighted.
The following day, temporary court orders froze certain assets connected to Selina Family Holdings and Godfrey’s business while ownership and fraud claims were investigated.
The SUV.
Some business equipment.
Accounts.
For the first time, the money stopped moving.
Selina called Aunt Bernice crying.
Bernice did not comfort her.
Instead, she recorded the conversation.
Selina said something that changed the case again.
“I was going to put everything back after Damian’s settlement came.”
Bernice asked, “Everything what?”
Selina went quiet.
Then she said, “The family money.”
Naomi played the recording for me twice.
I stared at the table.
My mother had finally described the money honestly.
Not expenses.
Not sacrifice.
Not support.
Money she planned to replace.
People only replace what they know they took.
That evening, Phedra sat beside the hospital window.
I told her what Selina had said.
She did not smile.
“She still thinks the settlement fixes it.”
“What?”
“She thinks if she pays money back, then none of it happened.”
I looked at her.
Phedra touched her bald head.
“She can return every dollar.”
Her voice trembled.
“She can’t return eleven months.”
I had no answer.
Three days remained until the date Selina believed the million dollars would arrive.
But by then, I no longer cared about the countdown.
The money was safe.
May you like
Phedra was fighting.
And for the first time, Selina and Godfrey were the ones discovering what it felt like to have no control over what happened next.
