Part 2 of 3

“How does Nora know about California?”

Daniel could not answer.

Elaine’s voice sharpened.

“Call Victor Hale right now. Put him on speaker.”

Daniel dialed.

The call rang once.

Twice.

Then an automated recording announced that the number had been disconnected.

Judith’s suitcase hit the hallway floor.

That was only the beginning.

PART 3: THE DOOR STAYED CLOSED

“Call him again!”

Elaine no longer sounded like a helpless woman recovering from a fire.

Daniel held his phone with both hands.

“Mom, relax. Maybe the connection is bad inside the building.”

“Call him again.”

The same automated recording played.

Judith dropped another bag.

“That is the man you sent every dollar to?”

Daniel shook his head rapidly.

“He isn’t just some man. He represents Pacific Crest Development.”

“Then show us the contract.”

Daniel opened his email, then the messaging application.

His expression changed.

Victor Hale’s profile photograph had vanished.

The account name now read Deleted Account.

Daniel scrolled frantically.

“No, no, this was active earlier.”

Elaine snatched the phone.

“Where is the money from my house?”

Judith corrected her through clenched teeth.

“All four hundred twenty-eight thousand dollars of it.”

Inside my condominium, I watched through the camera feed.

For years, Daniel had lectured everyone about passive income, financial freedom, and escaping traditional employment.

He had lost smaller amounts on questionable cryptocurrencies, expensive online courses, and a failed dropshipping project.

Those experiments involved his own money.

This time, he had persuaded his mother to sell a house she had owned for decades.

Elaine began pounding on my door.

“Nora, open this door. We need to talk.”

I remained seated.

“We did not know Daniel had made such a terrible mistake.”

That was only partially true.

Perhaps Elaine had not known the investment was fraudulent.

She certainly knew the fire was fictional.

Daniel moved directly in front of the camera.

“Nora, please open up. I live here too.”

For the first time, I activated the intercom.

“No, Daniel. I purchased this condominium before I ever met you.”

He stared into the lens.

“I’m your husband.”

“Exactly, which means you knew you could have asked me honestly instead of inventing a house fire.”

Elaine stepped closer.

“We only needed somewhere temporary.”

“Then why not tell me you sold the house?”

Nobody answered.

I continued.

“Because you knew I would not agree to support three adults while you invested every available dollar in a speculative project.”

Daniel finally spoke.

“It was only supposed to be a few months.”

I laughed without humor.

“Your messages say you planned to quit working once the rental income started.”

Daniel froze.

Elaine slowly turned toward him.

“You were quitting your job too?”

He swallowed.

“The plan was for me to manage the properties.”

Judith laughed bitterly.

“You cannot manage your own credit-card balance, but you were going to manage real estate?”

Elaine covered her face.

Only hours earlier she had imagined herself becoming a wealthy property owner near the Pacific Ocean.

Daniel had shown her glossy videos, income projections, and supposed insider pricing.

He told her the San Diego market was exploding and bank savings were being destroyed by inflation.

When an unexpected buyer offered strong cash for her Evanston house, Daniel called it a sign that the universe was opening a door.

The universe had done nothing.

A scammer had.

Eventually, after nearly an hour of arguing in the hallway, they left.

Judith made Daniel carry all four black bags himself.

Elaine cried during the elevator ride.

The following morning, they reported the fraud.

Investigators later explained that the operation had used multiple false identities to target victims across several states. Money was rapidly divided among accounts and converted into cryptocurrency after transfer.

Recovery prospects were extremely poor.

Outside the station, Elaine confronted her son.

“I sold the house where your father and I spent thirty years.”

Daniel looked miserable.

“Mom, I was scammed too.”

She shook her head.

“You were fooled because you wanted to believe you were smarter than everyone else. I was fooled because I trusted my son.”

That difference finally mattered to her.

PART 4: THE COST OF SOMEONE ELSE’S DREAM

Elaine and Judith spent their first night with a relative outside Chicago.

Daniel was refused accommodation there because the relative jokingly claimed he did not want Daniel introducing his children to “investment opportunities.”

Daniel slept on a coworker’s sofa instead.

Three days later, he asked to return for personal documents.

I packed them myself.

The sealed box waited for him at the building’s reception desk.

He was not permitted upstairs.

That was when Daniel finally understood that changing the locks had not been an emotional gesture.

I was ending the marriage.

We met once more at a café near my office.

He looked exhausted and wore nearly the same clothes he had worn during the hallway confrontation.

“Are you really filing for divorce over money?”

I folded my hands on the table.

“Our marriage is not ending because of money.”