My parents were always too busy to see me. Their charges kept appearing on my credit card. One statement finally revealed the truth.

PART 3
The folder landed in my hands as though it carried the weight of stone.

My name appeared across the very first page.

Grace Marie Bennett.

Defendant.

Defaulted property debt. Civil claim. Pending line. Court date.

For one long second, the bridal boutique vanished. The ivory gowns smeared into pale shapes. Madison’s champagne flute, my mother’s quivering lips, my father’s tightened jaw—all of it drifted away, as if I had sunk beneath deep water.

“I don’t own property in Ohio,” I said.