Chapter 2 - The Interrogation Room
Three hours later, I was sitting in a sterile, brightly lit room at the local police precinct. I was still wearing my graduation dress, though I had left the cap and gown in my friend Harper’s car.
Detective Ramirez sat across from me, looking over the thick stack of evidence I had spent the last two years quietly gathering.
“You did their jobs for them, Lily,” the detective said, whistling low. “You have IP addresses, routing numbers, and signature analyses. They took out nearly two hundred thousand dollars in federal loans under your Social Security number.”
“I found out during my sophomore year,” I explained, my voice cold and detached. “I tried to apply for a small credit card to build my credit, and I was denied due to a catastrophic debt-to-income ratio. When I pulled my credit report, I saw it all.”
“Why didn't you report it then?”
“Because if I did, they would have cut off my health insurance and thrown me out of the house before I could finish my degree,” I said honestly. “I needed my diploma. I bided my time, gathered the proof, and waited for the perfect moment.”
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Through the two-way mirror, I could see the holding cells across the hall. My mother was sobbing uncontrollably, her mascara running down her face, screaming that I was a manipulative liar. Julian was pacing in a separate cell, hyperventilating.
They thought they had broken me. They didn’t realize they had just forged me into steel.
