Chapter 2: The House She Said She Rented
I asked Mrs.
Ortega for a copy of every document in Maya's file.
She printed them without hesitation.
Then I asked the question I was most afraid to ask.
"Does Maya ever talk about her father?"
Mrs.
Ortega was quiet for a moment.
"She told one of her teachers last year that her father stopped sending money after her mother passed.
That he had started a new life and didn't want to be reminded of the old one."
I had to grip the edge of the desk.
My daughter believed I had erased her.
I walked back to the window.
Maya had finished her soaked bread and was back to her homework, head down, pencil moving.
Focused.
Quiet.
Completely alone.
I called my mother.
She picked up on the second ring, cheerful.
"Jason!
Did you land already?
Is Maya with you?"
"I'm at her school," I said.
"I'm looking at five years of financial hardship forms.
All signed by you."
Silence.
"Evelyn.
Where did the money go?"
Her voice shifted.
Careful now.
Controlled.
"I don't know what they told you, but Maya has been difficult.
The expenses were—"
"Stop."
I opened the folder again.
Behind the hardship forms was something I hadn't noticed before.
A folded receipt.
A property address.
A down payment dated three years ago.
The house Evelyn had told me she rented.
She owned it.
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What Jason found next made it impossible to stay silent.
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