Bianca opened the binder expecting pension paperwork. Instead, the first section contained twelve years of bank statements. I had highlighted every payment I had made for her family: college loans, the wedding deposit, rent during Marcus’s unemployment, car repairs, medical bills, and the down payment I contributed when they bought their house. By the final page, the documented total was more than $96,000. Several transfers Bianca had called “temporary loans” were accompanied by messages promising repayment. Not one had been repaid. Marcus stopped smiling when he saw copies of his own texts asking me for money while promising each request would be the last.
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