Chapter 5
The next three weeks passed beneath a layer of icy silence.
Logan and Chloe barely made a sound when they passed my door.
Their lifestyle, however, changed almost immediately.
Chloe’s expensive SUV remained parked in the driveway for days at a time.
Logan began taking the commuter bus to work each morning.
Without my money supporting them, their financial reality was suddenly visible.
One afternoon, someone tapped gently on my kitchen window overlooking the backyard.
It was Logan.
Alone.
I opened the back door and allowed him inside.
He sat at the same kitchen table where he had once done his homework as a child.
“We don’t have any money, Mom,” he admitted, staring at his hands. “Chloe has been spending beyond our means for years. She opened lines of credit in my name without telling me. When you stopped the money, everything collapsed. The couch, the vacations—all of it was bought on credit. She always assumed you’d eventually pay everything off.”
I watched him carefully.
“Why did you forge my signature, Logan?”
There was no softness in the question.
He swallowed.
“Chloe pressured me. She said if I didn’t get the money, she’d take the kids and leave. I didn’t know what else to do.”
For a moment, I felt the familiar ache of being his mother.
But it didn’t erase what he had done.
“You’re an adult, Logan. You tried to take money from me without permission. And I’m still clearing out the upstairs apartment.”
His head snapped up.
“Why? I’m telling you we’ll pay now.”
“Because as long as you live here rent-free, you’ll never learn to support yourself. And I need peace in my own home. I’m going to rent the upstairs unit to someone else. You and Chloe have three months to find another place.”
Logan lowered his head.
For the first time, he seemed to understand that I wasn’t changing my mind.
May you like
He stood and left without another word.
Then the packing began.
