PART 3
He remembered asking, “What did you do to my mother this time?”
And he remembered Olivia staring at him for several long seconds before quietly saying:
“Nothing I say will matter to you tonight.”
At the time, Derek had taken those words as arrogance.
Now they sounded like resignation.
He flipped through the papers.
There were bank statements.
Screenshots of text messages.
Copies of emails.
Photographs.
Dates.
Times.
Receipts.
Everything arranged in chronological order.
It was not emotional.
It was methodical.
Almost clinical.
Olivia had documented everything.
Derek’s chest tightened.
He read the first page.
JANUARY 8.
Marjorie requested Olivia’s debit card “for emergency groceries.”
Olivia refused.
JANUARY 10.
Marjorie asked Derek for access to Olivia’s account.
Derek’s eyebrows pulled together.
He read further.
FEBRUARY 2.
Marjorie entered the apartment while Olivia was in the shower.
A note underneath said:
“Derek was present in the hallway when she entered. He said she was family and could come in.”
Derek froze.
He remembered that.
He had actually said those words.
Why should his own mother need permission to enter her son’s apartment?
At the time, it had seemed harmless.
Now it looked different.
He continued.
FEBRUARY 18.
$412.87 charged to Olivia’s grocery account.
Merchant: Valley Market.
Derek’s eyes widened.
He looked at the date.
February 18.
He had been with Marjorie that afternoon.
She had come over and complained that Olivia was “too selfish with money.”
Derek had told his mother, “Just use whatever you need. We’re family.”
His stomach turned.
He kept reading.
MARCH 3.
$1,189.42.
Electronics store.
MARCH 19.
$627.14.
Department store.
APRIL 4.
$2,904.73.
Furniture warehouse.
Derek stared at the amount.
His mother had told him she had been buying things for her house.
He had never asked where the money came from.
His throat became dry.
Then he reached a page titled:
APRIL 17 — CARD REMOVED WITHOUT PERMISSION.
Below it was a photograph of Olivia’s purse lying open on their bedroom floor.
A red arrow pointed toward the empty card slot.
Underneath was a handwritten note in Olivia’s handwriting.
“I asked Derek where my card was. He said I probably misplaced it.”
Derek shut his eyes.
He remembered saying that too.
He had been irritated.
He had told Olivia she was always losing things.
She had said nothing.
He had assumed she was sulking.
She had actually known.
Derek lowered himself into a dining chair.
The apartment suddenly felt too large.
Too quiet.
Too unfamiliar.
Then his phone buzzed again.
MOM.
He stared at the screen.
It buzzed twice more.
Then a text appeared.
CALL ME NOW.
Another.
SHE STOLE MY MONEY BY BLOCKING THE CARD.
Another.
TELL OLIVIA TO FIX THIS.
Derek’s thumb hovered over the phone.
He finally answered.
“Mom.”
“What took you so long?” Marjorie demanded. “I have never been treated with such disrespect in my life!”
Derek said nothing.
“Derek?”
He looked at the photo in his hand.
“Mom… where did you get Olivia’s card?”
Silence.
“What kind of question is that?”
“A simple one.”
“I already told you. She gave it to me.”
“No.”
Marjorie laughed sharply.
“What do you mean, no?”
“She didn’t give it to you.”
Another pause.
Derek’s voice lowered.
“I have the security footage.”
Marjorie stopped breathing for half a second.
“What security footage?”
“The front-door camera.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. She is manipulating you!”
“She filmed you taking it.”
“That camera doesn’t prove anything!”
“It shows you opening her purse.”
“She left the purse open!”
“You took her card.”
“She’s your wife!”
“That doesn’t make it yours.”
Marjorie’s voice changed.
The outrage became something colder.
Something controlled.
“Who have you been talking to?”
Derek frowned.
“Nobody.”
“You found her papers.”
It wasn’t a question.
Derek sat upright.
“How do you know?”
Marjorie didn’t answer.
“Mom.”
Still nothing.
“Mom, how do you know she left papers here?”
“I know my family.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You’re letting that woman turn you against your own mother.”
Derek looked at the table.
Then at the empty wall where their wedding photograph had hung.
“She didn’t have to.”
Marjorie gasped.
“You ungrateful little—”
Derek ended the call.
For the first time in years, he had hung up on his mother.
He sat there staring at his phone.
His heart was pounding.
He wanted to believe there was an explanation.
Some misunderstanding.
Some missing piece that would make all of this disappear.
Because the alternative meant something much worse.
It meant Olivia had been telling the truth.
And Derek had not only failed to protect her.
He had repeatedly helped the person hurting her.
