Not once.

He sat at my kitchen table—after Mia finally returned the furniture under threat of legal action—and covered his face.

“I trusted her.”

Apparently, Karen handled most of the household finances.

Small transfers had started nearly two years earlier.

Then they increased.

Dad never noticed because Karen paid the bills.

But there was something else.

Something that explained why she had become so obsessed with me.

Six months earlier, Dad had quietly met with an estate attorney.

He wanted to update his will.

He planned to name me executor.

He had told Karen.

From that moment, everything changed.

Her criticism became constant.

According to Dad, she started telling relatives I was controlling.

Cold.

Obsessed with money.

Unstable.

Then Mia became more involved in the conflict.

Suddenly, the group chat made sense.

The exaggerated story.

The accusations.

The warning that I would “end up alone.”

They weren’t simply angry.