HER MOTHER-IN-LAW LIED—BUT THE CAMERA CAUGHT EVERYTHING
PART 2
Maya pressed play.
The first few seconds showed Eleanor entering the apartment without knocking.
Then came the muddy shoes.
The insults.
The demand for breakfast.
And finally, the $10,000 request.
Adrian’s expression slowly changed.
But Maya didn’t stop the recording.
The footage continued.
Eleanor was shown walking through the hallway, looking around carefully.
She opened the door to Maya’s home office.
Then she opened a drawer.
Adrian immediately stepped closer to the laptop.
“Mom…”
Eleanor’s face went pale.
“I was only looking for something.”
Maya paused the video.
“You weren’t looking for breakfast.”
Adrian stared at his mother.
“What were you doing in her office?”
Eleanor crossed her arms.
“I wanted to see whether Maya was hiding anything from you.”
“Like what?”
“Financial documents. Property papers. Anything proving what she owns.”
Silence filled the apartment.
Maya slowly looked at Adrian.
“That’s not even the worst part.”
She pressed play again.
The footage showed Eleanor pulling a small envelope from her handbag.
She placed it inside the drawer.
Then she closed it.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know,” Maya replied. “That’s what we’re about to find out.”
She walked into the office.
Eleanor immediately stepped in front of her.
“Don’t touch that.”
Maya stopped.
“Why?”
“Because you have no right.”
Maya smiled faintly.
“This is my home.”
She opened the drawer.
The envelope was exactly where the camera had shown Eleanor leaving it.
Maya picked it up.
There was no name on the front.
Only one handwritten word:
ADRIAN.
Adrian stared at it.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
Maya handed it to him.
“Then open it.”
His fingers trembled as he tore the envelope.
Inside was a photocopy of a bank statement.
Adrian’s eyes moved across the page.
Then he froze.
“What is this?”
Eleanor suddenly lunged toward him.
“Give that to me.”
Adrian pulled it away.
The account belonged to Eleanor.
And over the previous six months, there had been several large transfers.
$4,500.
$7,800.
$12,000.
And one final transfer for exactly $10,000.
The money had come from an account connected to Adrian’s event company.
Adrian looked at his mother.
“You’ve been taking money from my business?”
Eleanor’s mouth opened.
“No. That’s not what it looks like.”
Maya folded her arms.
“Then explain it.”
Eleanor couldn’t.
Adrian looked back at the statement.
“Mom, I never authorized these transfers.”
Maya’s eyes narrowed.
“Exactly.”
She opened another file on her laptop.
“I started noticing unusual activity three weeks ago.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time I questioned something, you told me I was being suspicious.”
She clicked another folder.
“I decided to investigate before making accusations.”
Several documents appeared on the screen.
Invoices.
Bank transfers.
Email confirmations.
And copies of electronic signatures.
Maya pointed toward the screen.
“Someone has been using your company account to send money to your mother.”
Adrian’s face went completely white.
Eleanor suddenly became defensive.
“You’re both making this sound criminal.”
Maya looked directly at her.
“It might be.”
Eleanor grabbed her purse.
“I am leaving.”
“Not yet.”
Maya’s voice was calm.
Eleanor stopped.
Maya turned the laptop around again.
“There is one more recording.”
The video began.
It showed Eleanor meeting a man outside a café two days earlier.
He handed her a folder.
She handed him an envelope.
Then Maya heard Eleanor clearly say:
“Once the wedding happens, she’ll have no choice but to put Adrian on the property documents.”
Adrian stepped backward.
“What wedding?”
Eleanor didn’t answer.
Maya looked at him.
“You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
Maya opened another document.
It was a draft property agreement.
Her name appeared at the top.
So did Adrian’s.
And beneath them was a clause transferring fifty percent ownership of the apartment to Adrian after the wedding.
Adrian stared at it.
“I never signed this.”
“I know.”
Maya pointed toward the signature.
“Because I didn’t either.”
Then she looked at Eleanor.
“You forged my signature.”
Eleanor’s face had completely drained of color.
Adrian turned toward his mother.
“Did you do this?”
“I was trying to protect you!”
“By stealing her house?”
“I was trying to make sure you weren’t left with nothing!”
Adrian shook his head.
“You wanted half of Maya’s property.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Maya closed the laptop.
“The wedding is canceled.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Maya…”
“No.”
She stood.
“You didn’t come here because you wanted breakfast.”
She looked at Eleanor.
“You came here because you wanted access to my home, my money, and eventually my property.”
Then she turned toward Adrian.
“And you brought her into my life without ever asking what she was planning.”
Adrian lowered his eyes.
“I didn’t know.”
Maya nodded.
“That may be true.”
She walked toward the front door.
“But now you do.”
Eleanor grabbed Adrian’s arm.
“Don’t let her do this. She’s trying to turn you against your own mother.”
Adrian slowly removed his mother’s hand.
“No, Mom.”
He looked at Maya.
“She didn’t turn me against you.”
Then he looked at the documents on the table.
“You did that yourself.”
Eleanor stood frozen.
Maya opened the front door.
“Take your bags.”
Eleanor stepped outside.
Adrian followed.
But before leaving, he turned around.
“Maya…”
She waited.
“I know saying sorry won’t fix this.”
“No.”
“I still love you.”
Maya looked at him for several seconds.
“I loved the man I thought you were.”
Adrian’s eyes filled with tears.
Then Maya quietly closed the door.
For the first time since their engagement, she was alone in her home.
She thought the nightmare was finally over.
It wasn’t.
Because twenty minutes later, her phone received an email from an unknown sender.
There was only one attachment.
A photograph.
Maya opened it.
Her blood ran cold.
It showed Adrian and Eleanor standing inside a bank.
And beside them was the same man from the café.
Below the photograph was a single sentence:
“If you cancel the wedding, they lose everything.”
Maya stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
“But if you want to know why Eleanor needs your house so badly, ask Adrian what happened to his father.”