My daughter walked into the kitchen laughing, then stopped when she saw me holding her phone. I asked her one question: “Why did Mike take twenty-five thousand dollars from our account?” Her face went completely pale. She looked at the phone, then at me, and finally whispered, “Mom, please don’t tell him you saw that.” I asked what she meant, and she admitted she’d known about the transfer for two days. Mike had told her it was temporary and that he’d replace everything after the wedding. Then Sarah’s message appeared again: “Is it safe from HIM?” My daughter finally admitted that Sarah wasn’t talking about me.
She told me Mike had been asking her for money for months. The wedding had cost far more than he’d told either of us, and he’d been using deposits from vendors to cover other expenses. The $25,000 was supposed to be the final payment for the venue, but the venue had already been paid. I checked the account and found several smaller withdrawals she’d never mentioned. My daughter started crying and said she’d been too embarrassed to tell me because she thought she could fix everything before the wedding. Then the front door opened.
Mike walked in, saw me holding the phone, and immediately stopped smiling. I asked him where the twenty-five thousand dollars went. He said it was none of my business because it was my daughter’s account. I told him it was a joint account, and I’d already called the bank. His face changed when I said the transfer had been flagged because the receiving account wasn’t connected to any wedding vendor. Then my daughter stepped beside me and said, “Mom, there’s something else you need to know.” She opened her purse, pulled out a second phone, and showed me the messages Mike had been sending to another woman.
