My father leaned closer to the console, his eyes narrowing.

“Just let my mother handle the transfer,” Ethan’s voice said on the tape.

“She’s not signing, Ethan,” Courtney’s voice replied. “She’s being stubborn.”

“Then pressure her until she does,” Ethan said, his voice flat. “We need her life savings for the house deposit.”

The truck engine idled, sending a low vibration through the floorboards.

On the screen, the file progress bar showed twenty minutes remaining.

My father’s phone on the dashboard suddenly lit up with an incoming call from an unknown number.

My father reached out and tapped the screen to pause the audio.

The silence in the truck cabin was heavy, broken only by the rhythmic clicking of the hazard lights.

“He knew,” my father said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register.

“He knew the whole time.”

I pulled my wool cardigan tighter around my chest, trying to stop the shivering that started deep in my bones.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” I whispered, staring at the frozen screen.

“I wanted to think he was just weak, that he was scared of his mother.”