Chapter 2: The Signature at the Bottom
Mrs.
Ortega gave me a moment alone in her office.
I sat there staring at my mother's signature on that hardship form.
My hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Five years.
Every single month.
And Maya had been eating half a dinner roll for lunch.
I asked Mrs.
Ortega one more question before I left.
"Has anyone ever called the school pretending to be me?"
She hesitated.
Then she opened a second folder.
There were three call logs.
Someone had contacted the school twice in 2021 and once last spring — each time using my name, each time changing a small detail on Maya's file.
The number traced back to a prepaid phone.
I knew whose voice had been on those calls.
I drove straight to Evelyn's house.
She opened the door smiling.
"Jason!
You should have told me you were—"
"Where did the money go, Mom?"
Her smile didn't fall.
It froze.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Two thousand dollars.
Four days ago.
Where is it?"
She crossed her arms.
"I used it for the household.
For Maya's needs.
You have no idea how expensive—"
"She ate soaked bread for lunch today."
Silence.
Then Evelyn said something that turned my stomach cold.
"Maya never appreciated anything anyway.
Just like her mother."
I looked at her for a long moment.
And I realized this went much deeper than money.
There was something else in that house.
Something she didn't want me to find.
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What Jason discovered inside that house exposed a secret Evelyn had been hiding for years.
Click the link below to read the full story — the truth is worse than anyone expected.
