Chapter 9 - Begging in the Rain
It was a cliché straight out of a soap opera, but reality often mimics fiction when desperate people run out of options.
Two weeks after the courtroom disaster, a heavy thunderstorm rolled over the city. It was nearing 9:00 PM when my doorbell rang. I checked the cameras.
Marcus and Elena stood on the porch, drenched to the bone. They didn't look like arrogant socialites anymore. Marcus was wearing a wrinkled sweatshirt, his face unshaven and hollow. Elena’s designer makeup was running down her face in dark streaks.
I unlocked the door, leaving the security chain in place.
“Mom, please,” Marcus sobbed, his voice cracking. He pressed his face near the crack in the door. “Please, you have to let us in. The feds took everything. My accounts are frozen. I can't even afford a lawyer. I'm facing five years in federal prison.”
Elena pushed her face next to his. “David kicked me out, Mom! The bank foreclosed on the house today. I have nowhere to go. My credit cards are declining. Please, we’re your children!”
I looked at them. The biological pull of a mother is a powerful thing. For a fleeting second, the urge to open the door, wrap them in a warm towel, and tell them everything would be okay flared in my chest.
But then I remembered the smirk on Marcus’s face at the restaurant.
“Mom signs whatever we put in front of her.”
I remembered the cold, calculated way Elena had lied on a sworn affidavit to have me declared insane and locked in a facility so she could steal my home.
“You are adults,” I said, my voice steady, betraying no emotion. “You attempted to commit elder abuse, fraud, and theft. If you were defendants in my courtroom, I would have remanded you to custody without bail.”
“We made a mistake! We were desperate!” Marcus cried, gripping the doorframe. “We’re family! Family helps family!”
“You used that line at the restaurant, Marcus,” I reminded him. “Family does not forge documents. Family does not attempt to leave their mother homeless. You didn't come here to apologize for hurting me. You came here because you got caught, and you want my money to save you.”
“Mom, I have nowhere to sleep tonight!” Elena wailed.
May you like
“There is a women’s shelter on 4th and Elm. I suggest you call them. And Marcus, the public defender's office opens at 8:00 AM. I suggest you get in line early.”
I closed the heavy oak door. I slid the deadbolt into place. I turned off the porch light, leaving them in the dark, and walked away.
