I asked her about the monthly disbursements. I asked about the summer camps I never attended. I asked about the tutoring I never received and the private school application I never knew existed. I kept my voice level. I’m actually a little proud of that.

She said, “I raised you, didn’t I? Kept you fed. Kept you in school. You should be grateful.”

And I said, “I wore the same three shirts for two years.”

She didn’t miss a beat. She just said, “That’s not how I remember it.”

I don’t know what I expected. I think part of me expected her to cry. To fall apart. To say she was sorry. To have some reason, even a bad one, that might make a sliver of sense. But she didn’t. She just said that’s not how she remembered it, like I was misremembering my own childhood. Like I hadn’t held that safety pin closed on my coat pocket for two winters in a row.

I hung up. I didn’t yell. I just hung up.

Deborah, the trust administrator, was actually really helpful. She explained my options. She said I can file a civil claim for breach of fiduciary duty. She said the trust document required the disbursements to be for my direct benefit, not Gloria’s. Summer camps I didn’t attend and tutoring I didn’t receive don’t qualify. The monthly draws were capped at a reasonable rate for actual childcare costs, not at $3,200 a month across an eleven-year span. She said there’s a paper trail. There’s documentation. She said these cases are hard but they’re not impossible.

She also told me there was something else. Something I hadn’t even thought to ask about.

Gloria had also filed herself as a beneficiary on my mother’s life insurance policy.

Not the sole beneficiary, but a named one. And the payout she collected from that, separate from the trust entirely, was $85,000.

I had to ask Deborah to repeat that. She did.

“The statute of limitations in your state expires in 14 months,” she said. “I’d recommend speaking to an attorney soon.”

Soon. Okay.

I found an attorney last week. We had a phone consultation. She was straightforward about it. She said the case has real legs but it won’t be fast and it won’t be cheap and there’s no guarantee. She said, “You need to decide if you’re willing to go through this.” I said I’d think about it.

I’m still thinking.

I drove past Gloria’s house after I left that first attorney call. I don’t know why I did that. I just drove past it. Two-car garage. Nice yard, all landscaped, one of those little stone path things up to the front door. She bought it in 2014 for $189,000. Cash. I know because Deborah mentioned it. I looked it up after. It was cash.