Chapter 2
I stared at Principal Howard.
“What do you mean she’s been coming here?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“Come into my office.”
I carried Mia inside.
She refused to leave my arms.
I didn’t make her.
Howard closed the door and placed the folder on his desk.
Inside were visitor logs.
Vanessa’s name appeared again and again.
Tuesday.
Thursday.
Monday.
Sometimes twice in one week.
I looked up.
“I never authorized this.”
Howard nodded.
“That’s the problem.”
“Who did?”
He slid another page toward me.
A permission form.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
Except I had never signed it.
My stomach dropped.
“That’s forged.”
Howard’s expression hardened.
“I was afraid you’d say that.”
According to the form, Vanessa had permission to pick Mia up, attend meetings, review academic records, and make limited emergency decisions.
“I didn’t give her any of this.”
Mia whispered against my shoulder.
“Aunt Vanessa said you did.”
I looked at her.
“When?”
“She said you were busy.”
Howard asked gently, “Mia, did Vanessa ever take you somewhere after school?”
Mia nodded.
My blood ran cold.
“Where?”
“Her house.”
“How many times?”
She shrugged.
“A lot.”
I forced myself to stay calm.
“What happened there?”
Mia looked down.
“She asked questions.”
“What questions?”
“About you.”
I exchanged a look with Howard.
“What did she want to know?”
“If you had a girlfriend.”
I blinked.
“What else?”
“If Grandma gave me money.”
My mother had created a small education account for Mia.
Very few people knew about it.
“What did you tell her?”
“I said I didn’t know.”
Mia’s voice grew quieter.
“Then she got mad.”
I held her closer.
Howard opened another file.
“We’ve also had attendance issues.”
“Mia hasn’t missed school.”
“Not full days.”
He pointed to early dismissal records.
Vanessa had signed Mia out seventeen times.
Each time using my authorization.
I felt sick.
“Why didn’t anyone call me?”
“The contact number on the form was changed.”
He showed me.
The number belonged to Vanessa.
My real number had been removed.
This was not a misunderstanding.
She had planned it.
A police officer entered the office.
“We reviewed more footage.”
“What did you find?”
“She’s confronted Mia before.”
The officer opened a tablet.
One video showed Vanessa cornering my daughter near the cafeteria.
Another showed her taking something from Mia’s backpack.
Mia watched the screen.
“That was Grandma’s letter.”
I turned.
“What letter?”
“Grandma gave it to me on my birthday.”
My mother had died four months earlier.
She had written Mia several letters before she passed.
I had only seen two.
“What did Vanessa do with it?”
“She said grown-up things shouldn’t be given to children.”
The officer paused the recording.
Vanessa slipped the envelope into her purse.
I felt anger rise.
“Can police search her house?”
“We’ll need legal grounds beyond the school incident.”
Principal Howard looked through the folder.
“There may be more.”
He pulled out a photocopy of an envelope Vanessa had once left in the office.
Her return address was printed in the corner.
But another name appeared beneath it.
Carter Family Trust.
I stared.
That was my mother’s trust.
May you like
Vanessa had no legal connection to it.
Yet somehow she was receiving mail about it.
