My daughter went crazy when I refused to give her the money from selling my farm. My older son took her side and broke my rib. Twenty minutes later, both of them regretted ever being born.

We are not threatening you, Patricia shouted loud enough for other people in the restaurant to turn and look at us.

We just want you to be reasonable.

Being reasonable would mean giving you my money so you can continue living irresponsibly, I said, feeling the anger boiling in my veins again.

But I am not going to be reasonable in that way.

I left the restaurant as quickly as I could, but I could hear Aaron telling Patricia, “Don’t worry, my love.

There are other ways to solve this problem.” On the way back home, my hands were shaking so much that I could barely steer the car.

Aaron’s words echoed in my head like an alarm bell.

There are other ways to solve this problem.

What had he meant by that? That night, I called my neighbor Grace, the only person in the world I truly trusted.

Grace was 70 years old.

She had been a widow longer than me, and she had always been like an older sister to me.

I told her everything that had happened, from the sale of the farm to Aaron’s veiled threats.

Martha, Grace said with concern, those children of yours have become dangerous.

You can’t stay alone in your house while they are acting like that.

What am I supposed to do, Grace? Hide from my own children? Not hide, but protect yourself.

Have you thought about talking to the police? And tell them what? That my children asked me for money and I refused.

I haven’t suffered any physical harm yet.

Martha, that word yet scares me a lot.

I think you should stay at my house for a few days until things calm down.

That night, I stayed at Grace’s house, but I couldn’t sleep at all.

Every noise startled me.

thinking that maybe Michael and Patricia had come looking for me.

Around at 3 hours 0 minutes in the morning, Grace got up to get me some water and found me awake looking out the window.

Martha, you have to tell me the truth, she said, sitting next to me.

What do you really need that money for? Because I know your personality very well, and I know you’re not saving it just out of greed.

For the first time since I had sold the farm, I told someone what my real plans for the money were.

Grace listened in silence, and when I finished speaking, she had tears in her eyes.

“Oh, Martha,” she said, hugging me.

“You are an incredible woman.

Your children don’t even deserve to know the truth of what you plan to do.” The next day, I returned to my house because I couldn’t hide forever.

But as soon as I arrived, I realized that something was very wrong.

The front door had marks around the lock, as if someone had tried to force it open.

Some of my plants were trampled, and there were large bootprints in the dirt of my garden.

Inside the house, although nothing had been stolen, everything had been slightly moved.

My drawers were a jar.

My papers had been shuffled.

And the metal box where I kept the sales documents had been moved from its hiding place under the bed.

My heart was beating so fast that I thought I would have a heart attack.

Someone had broken into my house while I was away, and it wasn’t hard to guess who it had been.

Michael had had keys to my house for years for emergencies, and he had clearly decided to use them to look for information about my money.

I immediately called to change the locks, but the locksmith told me he couldn’t come until the next day.

That night, I barricaded myself in my room, putting a chair under the doororknob and sleeping with a kitchen knife under my pillow.

The next morning, while waiting for the locksmith, I received a visit I didn’t expect.

It was Ethan, a second cousin of my late husband, a man in his 50s who worked as a mechanic in town.

Ethan had always been a calm and honest person, and I was very surprised to see him at my house so early in the morning.

Cousin Martha, he said with a worried face, I need to talk to you about something very serious.

Last night I was at the Golden Eagle bar and I overheard a conversation that left me very concerned.

What kind of conversation, Ethan? Your son Michael was there, very drunk, talking to some men I didn’t like at all.

They were making plans.

Plans that involve you.

My stomach clenched with fear.

What kind of plans? They were talking about ways to force you to hand over the money.

They mentioned something about making you sign papers and one of the men said he knew someone who could falsify medical documents to declare you mentally incompetent.

The world came crashing down on me.

Declare that I’m crazy? Yes, cousin.

They were saying that if they got a medical paper that said you had dementia or some mental problem, they could get a judge to give them legal control over your money.

My worst nightmares were coming true.

My own son was conspiring with strangers to steal not only my money but also my dignity and my freedom.

Ethan, are you sure about what you heard? Completely sure, cousin.

That’s why I came to warn you so early.

I think you have to take steps to protect yourself, and you have to do it now.

At that moment, the locksmith arrived, and while he was changing my locks, I called a lawyer that Grace had recommended to me.

I explained the whole situation, and he told me to come to his office immediately with all the sales documents for the property.

Mrs.

Martha, the lawyer told me after reviewing all my papers, you are in a very dangerous situation, but you are also in a very strong legal position.