Victor snapped,
“Renata.”
She looked at him.
He looked frightened.
Not angry.
Frightened.
Daniel noticed it too.
“Dad?”
Victor said nothing.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“No.”
Victor sat back down.
“There’s nothing else.”
Daniel stared at him for several seconds.
Then he said,
“Then why did the bank call me last month?”
My breath caught.
Victor’s face changed.
Daniel continued.
“They asked whether I had authorized a second account linked to my name.”
Renata suddenly looked at Victor.
And that was when I knew.
There was something else.
Something much bigger.
Daniel saw it too.
“Mom.”
She didn’t answer.
“Mom, look at me.”
Renata slowly raised her eyes.
“Did you open something in my name?”
She began crying.
Victor closed his eyes.
Daniel stood completely still.
“Answer me.”
Renata whispered,
“We needed somewhere to put the money.”
“What money?”
She didn’t answer.
Daniel’s voice became sharper.
“What money?”
Victor finally spoke.
“The loan.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What loan?”
“The house.”
A long silence followed.
Then Victor admitted,
“We were behind on the mortgage.”
I felt a chill run through me.
“How far behind?”
Victor swallowed.
“Six months.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
“How much?”
“Twenty-eight thousand.”
Renata began sobbing.
“We were going to pay it back.”
Daniel laughed once.
It wasn’t amusement.
It was disbelief.
“With what?”
Neither parent answered.
Then Daniel looked at me.
I could see the realization spreading across his face.
The MacBook.
The money.
The pressure on Valentina.
It hadn’t been about teaching generosity.
They were desperate.
