W BOŻE NARODZENIE PRZYBYŁEM NA IMPREZĘ U TEŚCIÓW WCZEŚNIEJ NIŻ PLANOWAŁEM. BYŁEM W SZOKU, GDY

“First, do not sign that power of attorney under any circumstances. Second, immediately take back control of your properties. Third, if you really want to get to the bottom of this, we can hire a private investigator and discover where that money has gone.”

“We are hiring a detective,” I stated. “I want everything documented. I want proof and I want them out of my life.”

He smiled a sad smile, but with a flicker of pride.

“Your father would be very proud of the woman you’ve become.”

In the following days, I acted quickly and silently.

Following Mr. Harrison’s instructions, I hired a trusted real estate management company to take over the administration of my condos. I signed contracts granting specific limited powers, very different from the general POA Jax wanted, and instructed them to notify all tenants immediately. Starting in January, all rents were to be paid directly to the management company. New contracts would be issued. Tenants had one week to sign or eviction proceedings would begin.

I also called a security company and had discreet cameras installed throughout the brownstone. Small, almost invisible, strategically placed in the living room, kitchen, office, and patio. All included audio, all connected to an app on my phone, to gather more evidence against them.

Jax returned from his trip on January 6th. I was home when he arrived, surrounded by suitcases.

“How was it, honey? How was New Year’s?” he asked, kissing me on the cheek, acting as if nothing was wrong, as if he hadn’t just spent two weeks with his pregnant mistress and the family who was conspiring against me.

“Quiet. I worked quite a bit. Got ahead on some projects,” I lied.

“Did you have time to look at that paperwork?”

There it was. The question I knew was coming.

I smiled.

“Oh, yes. Actually, honey, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’ve sorted it all out.”

I watched his expression change.

“What do you mean you sorted it out?”

“I hired a property management company to take care of the condos. That way, you can focus entirely on your trading without worrying about the hassle of managing rents, contracts, all that bureaucratic stuff. I thought you’d be pleased. You’ll have more time to invest in your work.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Jax blinked several times as if processing too much information at once.

“But I like taking care of the condos. You don’t need to pay someone to do a job I can do myself.”

I maintained the smile.

“I know, honey, but you always say you want to grow as a trader, that you need more time to study the market. Now you have that time. Didn’t you like the idea?”

I saw panic in his eyes. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again.

“Yes, I liked it,” he finally said. “It was just a little sudden.”

“Oh, you know me. When I decide something, I make it happen fast. I knew you’d like the surprise, honey.”

He didn’t respond. He just forced a smile. He grabbed his phone and left the living room, muttering something I couldn’t understand.

I waited a moment and then opened the camera app on my phone. I activated the patio camera and put on my headphones.

There he was, pacing, nervously, furiously typing on his phone. His phone rang a few seconds later. Even from a distance, I could hear shouting on the other end of the line.

“Calm down! Calm down!” Jax was saying nervously, looking back to make sure I wasn’t nearby. “I don’t know what happened. She hired a property management company.

“No, I can’t do anything right now. No, I don’t have three thousand dollars to pay the rent.

“Madison, listen. I won’t have any cash flow for a while. I need to figure this out first.”

He hung up the phone, his rage palpable.

I turned off the camera and smiled.

His desperation was almost visible, but I wasn’t finished yet.

That night at dinner, I casually mentioned,

“Oh, my boss called me earlier. I have to take a last-minute trip to Japan, an important project. They need someone to go close the contract in person. I’ll be gone all week.”

“When are you leaving?” Jax asked, trying to sound disinterested, but his eyes were sharp.

“The flight is scheduled for two a.m. I’ll leave the house around eleven p.m. or so. Sorry for the short notice. You know how this job is.”

“It’s fine,” he replied too quickly. “I thought we’d spend some time together, but if it’s for work, you have to go.”

After dinner, I went to the dressing room and grabbed my jewelry box to put it in the safe. That’s when I noticed jewelry was missing.

Several pieces.

A pearl necklace that belonged to my grandmother. Diamond earrings my parents gave me for my sixteenth birthday. A gold bracelet with my mother’s precious stone charms. A sapphire necklace my father had given my mother for an anniversary.

My blood boiled.

It wasn’t enough to steal my income. He had stolen my family memories.

But I didn’t have time to deal with that now.

I went into the office, opened the safe where I kept all the important documents, and changed the combination. I stored the remaining jewelry, locked it, and left.

I packed a suitcase and said goodbye to Jax with a kiss on the cheek. Just to mess with him, I discreetly pocketed his car keys from the console table in the foyer, tucked them into my purse, and left the house.

I didn’t go to the airport. I drove to a hotel downtown. I booked a comfortable suite, went up to the room, and finally took a deep breath.

I was alone, safe, and fully in control of the situation.

An hour after leaving the house, my phone rang.

“Do you know where my car keys are?”

I feigned surprise.

“I don’t know, honey, but why do you need the keys at this hour?”

“Oh, nothing. I just realized they weren’t here on the console table.”

I interrupted him.

“Maybe they fell behind the furniture. Did you look closely?”

I heard an irritated sigh on the other end.

“I’ll take a look. Have a good trip. Love you.”

I hung up and immediately opened the camera app.

The sight of Jax ransacking the entire house, searching for the keys tucked away in my purse, was almost comical. He looked under the sofa, rummaged through drawers, even crouched to look beneath the furniture.

After fifteen minutes of frustrating searching, he grabbed his phone, typed something quickly, and collapsed onto the living room sofa with the expression of someone who just realized he has completely lost control.

I smiled alone in the hotel room, but the night wasn’t over yet.

Half an hour later, my phone notified me that someone was at the front door. I activated the camera and saw three people entering the brownstone: Uncle Charles, Aunt Carol, and Madison.

They sat down at the kitchen table. Jax looked destroyed, his shoulders slumped, his face pale. Aunt Carol was visibly irritated, her arms crossed, her expression hard. Uncle Charles drummed his fingers on the table, impatient.

I turned the audio volume to max and put on my headphones.

“Explain exactly what is going on,” Aunt Carol demanded, her voice cutting.

Jax ran a tired hand over his face.

“She hired a property management company to run the condos. All the tenants received notice. Starting this month, rent goes straight to the management company. New contracts, everything official. I no longer have access to anything.”

“And Madison’s condo?” Uncle Charles asked.

“She received notice too. New contract in a week or eviction.”

Madison placed a protective hand over her belly.

“Jax. I don’t have money to pay the rent. You know that.”

“I know,” Jax replied in a defeated voice. “You’ll have to stay with my parents for now until I sort this situation out.”

“Sort it out? How?” Uncle Charles practically spat. “You’ve lost control of everything. Years of planning, years taking care of that girl, and you let it slip away at the last minute.”

“I didn’t let it slip away,” Jax countered, raising his voice. “She suddenly got smart. She never questioned anything in five years of marriage. And out of nowhere, she decides to hire a management company.”

“Because you rushed her with that stupid power of attorney,” Aunt Carol shouted, pointing a finger at him. “You should have waited longer, earned more of her trust.”

“More trust. I’ve known her since birth. If that’s not enough trust, I don’t know what is.”

“Clearly, it wasn’t,” Uncle Charles muttered.

There was a tense silence. Madison nervously fiddled with the necklace she was wearing—my sapphire necklace—rubbing the pendant between her fingers.

“So now what?” she asked in a weak voice. “What do we do, Jax?”

He sighed.

“I’m going to try to convince her to sign the POA. It’s the only way to reverse this. With the power, I can undo the contract with the management company, regain control.”

“But what are you going to say to make her sign?” Uncle Charles asked.

“I don’t know. I need to talk to her when she gets back from Japan.”

Aunt Carol leaned forward, her hands on the table.

“Jax, listen to me closely. We did not take care of that child all these years just to end up with nothing. Do you think I endured that brat crying about her dead parents for free? Your father and I didn’t make such a sacrifice just for it to go wrong now.”

My stomach turned. The way she spoke about me as if I were a burden, an investment that had to yield profit.

“I know, Mom,” Jax said tiredly.

“You know? Do you really know?” Uncle Charles joined his wife. “That company should have been ours, too. Half of that money, half of those condos, it should all be ours. But her father got greedy and bought my share when the company was doing badly. He kept all the profits when it improved and then died, leaving everything to that spoiled kid.”

Aunt Carol shifted in her chair and continued.

“She grew up in the best schools. She had everything she wanted. She never worked a hard day in her life. Meanwhile, we were busting our backsides. Your father at that miserable store. Me at that clinic, watching them from afar with that luxury life that should have been ours, too.”

Uncle Charles nodded.

“Exactly. That’s why when they died, it was our opportunity, our chance to correct that injustice, care for the girl, earn her trust, and when she turned twenty-one, be so close that she saw us as her family. And it worked. She let us live in her house. She trusted you to manage the condos. She married you. Everything was perfect until you messed it all up,” Aunt Carol finished, looking at Jax with contempt.

“I didn’t mess anything up.” Jax slammed the table. “The plan was to wait for her to sign the POA, transfer everything to my name, and then file for divorce. Done. Over. Everyone goes their separate way. But she didn’t sign it.”

“Not yet, but she will,” Jax insisted.

“How are you so sure?” Uncle Charles doubted.

Jax hesitated.

“I think she will. I’ll find a way. She trusts me.”

“She trusted you,” Aunt Carol corrected. “After this property management company stunt, I don’t know. She seems suspicious.”

They fell silent for a few moments. I remained in the hotel room, heart racing, recording every second of that conversation.

“What about us?” Madison asked. “You said you don’t have the rent money anymore. How are you going to support me? Support the baby?”

Jax ran his hand through his hair, frustrated.

“I don’t know, Madison. I don’t know. The money I had saved was used for the trip and the rest I lost gambling.”

“You lost it?” Aunt Carol almost screamed. “Jax, you promised you would quit.”

“I didn’t know I would be cut off from the rents this month. If I had known, I wouldn’t have gambled everything.”

“You’re an idiotic boy,” Uncle Charles said bluntly. “A fool. And now, how are we going to pay the bills this month?”

“I’ll fix it,” Jax insisted. But his voice lacked conviction.

Madison started crying.

“You promised I wouldn’t have to worry about money. I quit my job. I fought with my parents. I left home. You promised you would take care of me, that we would have a good life, that the baby would have everything. And now you tell me you have no money, that you gambled it all away.”

“Madison, please—”

“No.” She stood up from the chair. “I can’t believe I was so stupid. All these years being the other woman, hiding, waiting, and for what? To end up pregnant, homeless, dependent on your parents’ charity.”

“Calm down, Madison,” Aunt Carol said without much sympathy. “We’ll solve this. And when we get the money, everyone benefits. You, the baby, everyone. But you have to be patient.”

“Patient?” Madison laughed humorlessly. “I’m four months pregnant, Carol. In five months, I’ll have a baby. I don’t have time for patience.”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you got pregnant,” Aunt Carol retorted coldly. “Have you never heard of birth control or condoms?”

The silence that followed was charged with tension.