Chapter 9 - The Final Plea
Naomi picked up her phone with her left hand, swiping the screen to speakerphone.
"Naomi! Please!" Valerie’s desperate voice echoed through the hospital room speakers, accompanied by background sounds of police sirens outside the hospital entrance. "Tell the detective you're not pressing charges! They're threatening to freeze my personal checking accounts! Kendra is having a full panic attack in the back of the squad car!"
Naomi took a slow, deep breath. For the first time in her life, she felt no fear, no guilt, and no need to apologize for existing.
"You came into my hospital room while I was lying here with broken ribs," Naomi said, her voice dropping into a calm, steady, unshakeable register. "You didn't ask how I was feeling. You didn't ask to hold your new granddaughter. You came to demand I pet-sit a cat so Kendra could go on a cruise bought with stolen money."
"I am your mother, Naomi!" Valerie sobbed hysterically. "You can't do this to your own mother!"
"A real mother doesn't steal her child's future, Valerie," Naomi replied coldly. "You made your choice years ago. Now you can live with the consequences."
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Without waiting for a response, Naomi tapped the red button, ending the call permanently.
👉 Read PART 10 to see what happened to Valerie and Kendra during the official financial audit!
