I stuffed the envelope's contents back in the envelope and shoved all of it into my pocket so could race up to my room. I closed and locked my door for privacy before I pulled out my phone and called Ryan. A few rings later he picked up with his cheery greeting. "Hello, angel. What's up?" he said.

"Ryan? I have to talk to you," I said, skipping my own greeting in favor of the emergency.

Ryan sobered when he heard the panic in my voice."Okay? Do you want to talk now?" he asked.

"No, I don't want to talk at my house. Can I meet you somewhere?" I asked urgently. 

"I guess. Does the park work?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'll meet you there in five minutes," I told him. I hung up and grabbed my shoes. Then I hurried out of the house as quickly as I could. I all but ran to the park and fidgeted nervously by a bench until I saw Ryan turn the corner at the end of the block and head my way. He looked concerned as he came up to me.

"What's up? You sounded really upset on the phone," he said.

"Ryan, she was talking about my dad," I said. "Look what I found."

As I pulled out the envelope, I uncrumpled paper and handed it to him. Ryan took it and pulled out the list of dates and savings. He looked it over carefully and when he looked up, his eyebrows were drawn together in confusion. "If this is true, what do you think she plans to do to your dad?" he asked. "Just dating him again won't give her access to any of this."

"I don't know," I said. "I don't want to think she'd hurt him, but knowing my mom, she'll do anything to get what she wants. I'm afraid to say she might kill him, but it's true. I have to do something, I can't let her go through with this."

Ryan frowned at me, clearly disagreeing with my intended course of action. "What can you do about it? It's not like you can just tell her to get lost," he said.

I thought hard for a minute, knowing he was right. "I can start by telling my dad," I suggested. Then I wilted some. "Unfortunately, I'd need a miracle to make him believe me."

"Did something happen?" Ryan asked.

"Just a stupid fight. He thinks I'm just being immature for hating my mom, but he hasn't listened to anything I have to say about her." I sighed, knowing my dad would never listen to any negative things I had to say about my mom. "He'll probably just shut me out again if I try to say anything..."

"Why don't we try the police or something?" Ryan suggested. The station was just down the road, we could walk there if we wanted. However, I still shook my head.

"We don't have any proof other than my mom's past, and that's not enough to get her arrested. We need proof for what's happening now," I said.

Ryan frowned and bit the inside of his cheek. Then he looked at me again. "Is it really that bad to talk to your dad?" he asked.

I sighed. "It's worth a shot, I guess."

*******

"What? Now, you're just making things up. That's the most outlandish thing I've ever heard," my dad said. "Why would your mother want to do that?"

"Because she wants your money! I swear, I saw her talking to some guy and he said that someone had a bunch of money in savings. Then I found this," I pulled out the envelope from the bank, "in your office."

He snatched the envelope away from me. "Don't go touching things that don't belong to you," he said. 

I threw up my hands in frustration. "But it proves it! She's trying to get you out of the way so she can get your money!" I told him.

"Maybe I do have a lot of money stored away. But that doesn't mean my wife is trying to steal it," he said. He dropped the evidence on his study desk and turned to me seriously. "Jacob, I know you don't have a good past with your mother, I know she hasn't treated you the way a mother should, and I will never validate her for that. But she's trying to her best right now."

"Why would I make this up?" I asked. "I could easily just pretend she's invisible and ignore her every word. But, no, I'm trying to help you. Are you listening? Of course, not! Why won't you just open your eyes! She's trying to swindle you!"

"That's enough, Jacob," my dad said firmly. "I don't want to hear anymore lies. I'm tired of you doing this to your mother."

"Doing what? Everything she ever did to me?" I asked. "Because all I can remember are the nights I spent on the streets because she wanted the house to herself and her boyfriends. If I was going to make something up about her it'd be a hell of a lot worse."

"Enough!" my dad shouted.

He didn't have an excuse, no reason to stop me, he just didn't want to hear any more and I saw that as more childish than any supposed lies that I was coming up with. I held my ground as I glared at him. "You say I'm immature?" I asked coldly. "Well, how immature is it to believe your twisted ex-wife with a horrible background over your own son? The one trying to help you."

My dad didn't reply at first. Then he took a deep breath. "She's different now," he said.

She would never be different, but it seemed I was the only one to accept that. "Dispite the fact that you won't listen to me, I still don't want you to get hurt. So, even if just to prove a point, I'm going to show you I'm right and you're going to see that I'm not a liar," I said.

"Jacob." My dad's tone was warning.

I pursed my lips and clenched my fists tightly against my thighs. "Just watch," I said.

I walked out of the room and wasn't surprised to see my mom standing by the door. She had been listening in on our conversation. She glared at me. "You've done it now, brat. I'll show you not to mess with me," she growled.

I rolled my eyes and headed for my room, unfazed by her threats. I closed my door and immediately called Ryan to tell him my father's verdict. "Well, that was a bust," I said as soon as he picked up.

"What did your dad say?" Ryan asked.

"He called me a liar," I said, making no attempt to hide my irritation. I heard Ryan swear under his breath and I sighed. "I'll figure something out. I'm sure I can find something to get his attention."

Ryan was silent for a minute before he said, "I don't know if your dad loves your mom or if he just really wants to believe she's changed so you'll have a mom."

"Probably both," I said. "The first one's disgusting though." I shuddered at the thought.

Ryan laughed lightly. "Yeah, that's pretty gross. I would hate to walk in on one of their evenings," he said.

If he'd have been sitting next to me, I'd have slapped him. "I did not need that mental image!" I snapped. He laughed harder this time and I shook my head. "God... You're making me hate her even more."

"Well, I have a new found distaste for her as well, so it's not a bad thing," he said. I could just see him grinning.

"Well, I should get to bed," I said. I walked to my bed, slumping into my pillows. "I'm going to dedicate my every waking moment to finding evidence on my mom."

"Want help with that?" Ryan asked.

"Sure. It'll go faster and I can get rid of her quicker," I said. "Where do you want to meet?"

"Hm... Does the arcade work? Ben's actually pretty good at researching stuff," Ryan offered. "I bet he'd help us."

I nodded as I slipped on some sweatpants to sleep in. "Sounds good," I said.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, then," he said. I was about to hang up when he added, "Love you."

My movement stopped, halfway through pulling a shirt on, and I stared straight ahead, a blush creeping up my face. I could hear him trying not to laugh on the other end of the line. "Jacob?" he asked.

I swallowed. "What?"

There was a pause before he repeated himself."I love you, Jacob."

I took one deep, calming breath. "I..." I took another breath. "I love you too..." I finally said.

"What was that? " Ryan asked. "I couldn't quite hear you."

I clenched and gritted my teeth. "I love you, too," I said again as fast as I could before quickly hanging up on Ryan's hysterical laughter.

*******

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