Jordan held the pen for several seconds before writing anything.<\/p>\n
I didn't rush him.<\/p>\n
The paper was sitting between us.<\/p>\n
The folder remained open.<\/p>\n
Pam watched her son with the same worried expression she'd worn all evening.<\/p>\n
I could tell she wanted to help.<\/p>\n
Maybe she wanted to suggest a name.<\/p>\n
Maybe she wanted to remind him of an account.<\/p>\n
But she stayed quiet.<\/p>\n
That was important.<\/p>\n
Jordan needed to provide the information himself.<\/p>\n
He began with the three credit-card companies.<\/p>\n
He wrote slowly.<\/p>\n
Then he listed the address on Sayles Boulevard.<\/p>\n
His apartment.<\/p>\n
The same address that appeared on the applications I'd obtained.<\/p>\n
I watched him write it.<\/p>\n
There was something unsettling about seeing that familiar address connected to my financial identity.<\/p>\n
I'd known where Jordan lived for years.<\/p>\n
I'd helped him move apartments.<\/p>\n
I'd carried furniture through narrow doorways.<\/p>\n
I'd paid for repairs when his car broke down after he lost a job.<\/p>\n
And all that time, I'd assumed our relationship was ordinary.<\/p>\n
Complicated sometimes.<\/p>\n
But ordinary.<\/p>\n
Now I was looking at his address on a list of accounts he had opened without my permission.<\/p>\n
He wrote an email address.<\/p>\n
Then a telephone number.<\/p>\n
I asked whether he'd used any others.<\/p>\n
He added another.<\/p>\n
I looked at the two numbers.<\/p>\n
Both were familiar.<\/p>\n
I had seen him use them over the years.<\/p>\n
The details matched what I'd found in the records.<\/p>\n
That didn't make me feel better.<\/p>\n
It only made the situation harder to dismiss.<\/p>\n
Jordan pushed the paper toward me.<\/p>\n
"That's everything."<\/p>\n
I studied it.<\/p>\n
Three cards.<\/p>\n
An address.<\/p>\n
An email.<\/p>\n
Two phone numbers.<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
"What about the other application?"<\/p>\n
He frowned.<\/p>\n
"The one you said might not have gone through."<\/p>\n
He took the paper back.<\/p>\n
For a moment, he seemed irritated that I'd remembered.<\/p>\n
Then he began speaking.<\/p>\n
He had applied for a loan.<\/p>\n
Not another credit card.<\/p>\n
A personal loan.<\/p>\n
Pam leaned forward.<\/p>\n
"What loan?"<\/p>\n
Jordan rubbed the side of his neck.<\/p>\n
"It didn't get approved."<\/p>\n
"How much did you apply for?" I asked.<\/p>\n
He hesitated.<\/p>\n
"Fifteen thousand."<\/p>\n
I wrote the figure down.<\/p>\n
Fifteen thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
I thought about how easily he'd said the amount.<\/p>\n
As though the fact that the bank had rejected the application made the attempt less important.<\/p>\n
But rejection hadn't changed what he'd done.<\/p>\n
He had still submitted somebody else's information.<\/p>\n
He had still attempted to obtain money under a name that wasn't his.<\/p>\n
I asked whether he'd signed the application using my name.<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
I asked whether he'd used my Social Security number.<\/p>\n
Again, yes.<\/p>\n
I asked whether he'd actually submitted the paperwork.<\/p>\n
He looked uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
I put down my pen.<\/p>\n
The application hadn't been approved.<\/p>\n
That was fortunate.<\/p>\n
But it didn't erase the attempt.<\/p>\n
I could have sat there arguing about how serious it was.<\/p>\n
Instead, I asked which bank had received it.<\/p>\n
Jordan gave me what information he could remember.<\/p>\n
I wrote it beside the amount.<\/p>\n
Then I asked whether there were any other applications.<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
I didn't move on immediately.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He looked back.<\/p>\n
"Jordan, I need you to understand something."<\/p>\n
He waited.<\/p>\n
"I'm going to verify what you've told me."<\/p>\n
His expression tightened.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because I've already found information you didn't tell me about."<\/p>\n
He looked away.<\/p>\n
I touched the paper.<\/p>\n
"This has to be complete."<\/p>\n
He nodded reluctantly.<\/p>\n
I wasn't certain whether I believed him.<\/p>\n
Not yet.<\/p>\n
Trust wasn't something he could restore in a single evening.<\/p>\n
He'd spent years damaging it.<\/p>\n
A few minutes of cooperation couldn't change that.<\/p>\n
I looked at Pam.<\/p>\n
She was staring at the fifteen-thousand-dollar figure.<\/p>\n
I wondered what she was thinking.<\/p>\n
Perhaps she was calculating how much money she had already withdrawn from her retirement.<\/p>\n
Perhaps she was remembering all the times Jordan had assured her the situation was under control.<\/p>\n
I knew she was frightened.<\/p>\n
But I also knew that fear was part of what had brought us here.<\/p>\n
Jordan had learned that if he sounded desperate enough, his mother would try to save him.<\/p>\n
Even if saving him meant sacrificing something she needed herself.<\/p>\n
I didn't want to see that continue.<\/p>\n
I asked him whether there was anything else we needed to know.<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
Then he stared at the paper again.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
He moved the pen between his fingers.<\/p>\n
Finally, he said there was something about the payments Pam had been making.<\/p>\n
I felt my stomach tighten.<\/p>\n
"What about them?"<\/p>\n
He looked at his mother.<\/p>\n
"Not all of the money went toward the credit cards."<\/p>\n
Pam stared at him.<\/p>\n
I looked down at the transaction sheet.<\/p>\n
For almost three years, she'd been sending him seven hundred dollars each month.<\/p>\n
She believed the money was covering debts that threatened our family.<\/p>\n
We had already discovered that the debts weren't mine.<\/p>\n
Now Jordan was telling us that even his explanation of the payments wasn't accurate.<\/p>\n
"Where did it go?" I asked.<\/p>\n
He rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n
"Some went toward my rent."<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
"Some went toward the car."<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
I knew there was more.<\/p>\n
"And some went toward what I owed from gambling."<\/p>\n
Pam leaned back.<\/p>\n
For a moment, she looked unable to speak.<\/p>\n
I stared at Jordan.<\/p>\n
I had expected the payments to be difficult to trace.<\/p>\n
I had expected the balances to be complicated by interest and additional purchases.<\/p>\n
But I hadn't expected him to admit so openly that he had been taking money from his mother for expenses she knew nothing about.<\/p>\n
I asked how much had actually gone to the card accounts.<\/p>\n
He said he didn't know.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
"You handled the payments."<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
"You had the money."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"And you can't tell us where it went?"<\/p>\n
He rubbed his eyes.<\/p>\n
"Not exactly."<\/p>\n
I turned the transaction sheet toward him.<\/p>\n
The payments were listed.<\/p>\n
The purchases were listed.<\/p>\n
The transfers and withdrawals were there too.<\/p>\n
Some activity remained unclear.<\/p>\n
But the records gave us somewhere to begin.<\/p>\n
I told him he'd have to account for the money.<\/p>\n
He said he'd try.<\/p>\n
I corrected him.<\/p>\n
He needed to find out.<\/p>\n
Not guess.<\/p>\n
Not estimate whatever sounded reasonable.<\/p>\n
We needed actual amounts.<\/p>\n
Pam had used her savings to help him.<\/p>\n
She deserved to know what had happened to every dollar.<\/p>\n
Jordan leaned forward.<\/p>\n
"I can pay her back."<\/p>\n
Pam didn't answer.<\/p>\n
"I'll find more work. I'll sell the car if I have to."<\/p>\n
I watched her face.<\/p>\n
Once, I thought those words would have comforted her.<\/p>\n
They sounded like responsibility.<\/p>\n
Like the beginning of a plan.<\/p>\n
But after everything we'd heard, promises had lost much of their value.<\/p>\n
Pam looked at her son.<\/p>\n
"I don't care about your car."<\/p>\n
He went quiet.<\/p>\n
She wiped her cheeks.<\/p>\n
"I want to know when you're going to stop lying to me."<\/p>\n
Jordan stared at her.<\/p>\n
Her voice broke.<\/p>\n
"I've been trying to help you because I thought you were helping Gary."<\/p>\n
He lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n
"Instead, you've been taking my money and making me afraid of my own husband."<\/p>\n
Jordan covered his face.<\/p>\n
"Mom, I'm sorry."<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
"I know you're sorry right now."<\/p>\n
He looked up.<\/p>\n
"But I need more than that."<\/p>\n
I sat quietly.<\/p>\n
Pam had been defending him for years.<\/p>\n
I had watched her explain away his irresponsibility.<\/p>\n
I'd watched her make allowances when he lost jobs.<\/p>\n
I'd watched her excuse his impatience and his lack of gratitude.<\/p>\n
I understood why she did it.<\/p>\n
He was her son.<\/p>\n
But a mother could love her child without paying for every mistake he made.<\/p>\n
And a grown man could accept help without pretending he was entitled to it.<\/p>\n
I looked at Jordan.<\/p>\n
His face was pale.<\/p>\n
He seemed frightened.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I wanted to believe he was finally facing what he'd done.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered the applications.<\/p>\n
The cards.<\/p>\n
The loan.<\/p>\n
The money from Pam's retirement.<\/p>\n
The invented accusations about my gambling.<\/p>\n
Remorse mattered.<\/p>\n
But it wasn't a substitute for accountability.<\/p>\n
I asked him whether he understood why his mother couldn't continue giving him money.<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Do you understand that promising to repay her doesn't settle what happened with my identity?"<\/p>\n
He looked at the folder.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
I hoped he meant it.<\/p>\n
Pam folded her hands in her lap.<\/p>\n
She looked exhausted.<\/p>\n
I knew she would probably spend the night thinking about everything she'd heard.<\/p>\n
I would too.<\/p>\n
But we weren't finished.<\/p>\n
We still needed a complete account history.<\/p>\n
We still needed to know what Jordan had applied for.<\/p>\n
And we still needed to determine which payments had gone toward debts and which had gone somewhere else.<\/p>\n
I reached for another sheet of paper.<\/p>\n
I began writing down the documents he needed to gather.<\/p>\n
Statements.<\/p>\n
Applications.<\/p>\n
Payment records.<\/p>\n
Account information.<\/p>\n
Anything connected to the loans or cards.<\/p>\n
Jordan watched me.<\/p>\n
I could tell he was beginning to understand that this conversation would not end with an apology and a promise.<\/p>\n
For the first time, somebody was asking him to prove what he said.<\/p>\n
And I wasn't going to apologize for doing it.<\/p>\n
Source: psndaily.xyz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Jordan held the pen for several seconds before writing anything. I didn't rush him. The paper was sitting between us. The folder remained open. Pam watched her son with the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-readmore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6349,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6334\/revisions\/6349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readstoryus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nClick here to continue reading: PART 7: When My Stepson Realized an Apology Would Not Erase the Fraud, He Begged Me to Keep His Actions From the Authorities<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"