Chapter 8 - MAYA SIGNS HER OWN NAME
On Friday morning, Maya signed three documents.
The first terminated Linda’s access to her medical portal.
The second revoked the agency authorization allowing Linda to manage service communications.
The third was a lease.
The accessible apartment she had turned down in January was gone, but another unit in the same complex would open July 1.
The rent was $286 more than she had hoped.
Maya paid the deposit anyway.
Claire watched from the hotel desk.
“You sure?”
Maya gave her a tired smile.
“That question is allowed.”
“Good.”
“And yes.”
Maya clicked Submit.
There was no celebration.
No swelling music.
Just a confirmation page and the realization that she had committed herself to a rent payment, utility deposits, moving costs, and living without the unpaid help she had once assumed her mother gave freely.
The next document was harder.
A formal complaint to the home-care agency.
Maya described the inaccurate service hours, the reassessment she had not authorized, and her concern that her reported functional decline did not match her medical records.
She did not accuse Daniel of sabotaging the crutch.
Not yet.
She attached facts.
The agency acknowledged the complaint and said its compliance unit would review it.
Maya sent it.
Ten minutes later Daniel called from Linda’s phone.
Claire recognized his voice through the speaker.
“You happy now?”
Maya’s face hardened.
“Why are you using Mom’s phone?”
“Because you blocked mine.”
“That was intentional.”
Daniel ignored her.
“The agency suspended her payments.”
Maya looked at Claire.
She had not expected action that quickly.
“Pending review,” Daniel continued. “That money pays the mortgage.”
“Then you shouldn’t have claimed hours she didn’t work.”
“You lived here for almost a year.”
“And I paid rent.”
“Six hundred fifty bucks doesn’t cover what you cost.”
Maya’s grip tightened around the phone.
“What exactly did I cost?”
Daniel hesitated.
It was brief.
But Maya heard it.
“Daniel?”
“Groceries. Utilities. Your mother’s time.”
Maya’s voice became quieter.
“My mother’s time was being paid for.”
He swore.
Then came the real fear.
“Withdraw the complaint.”
“No.”
“You’re going to put your mother on the street.”
“No.”
Maya swallowed.
“Whatever you two did put you there.”
“You selfish little—”
Claire reached for the phone.
Maya moved it away from her.
“No.”
Claire stopped.
Maya spoke into the receiver.
“Don’t contact me again except about returning my property.”
“Listen to me—”
She ended the call.
Her hand was shaking.
Claire waited.
Maya breathed until it stopped.
“I’m making another report.”
“About the call?”
“No.”
Maya reached for the clear bag containing the damaged crutch tip.
“About this.”
The decision scared her more than leaving the house.
Because once she told investigators she believed someone had deliberately interfered with the thing she relied on to walk, she could no longer pretend the family problem was only money.
And thirty-seven minutes after Maya gave the supplemental statement, Linda sent Claire a message instead of Maya.
Please don’t let her tell them about the crutch until I talk to you.
Claire read it aloud.
May you like
Maya’s face changed.
“She knows something.”
