Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO WANTED A DEALAustin asked to see me.
My first answer was no.
Then weeks later, yes.
Not alone.
Victim advocate present.
County jail visitation through glass.
He looked smaller without expensive suit.
Orange uniform.
Bruise? No.
He sat.
“Monica.”
I waited.
“I’m sorry.”
“For which part?”
He flinched.
Fair question.
“The tire iron.”
“What about fraud?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Dad?”
His eyes filled.
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew Mom was doing something illegal.”
“Not at first.”
“When did you know?”
He looked away.
“Three years ago.”
Fraud had operated longer.
“You kept taking money.”
“Yes.”
“You forged my signature.”
“Yes.”
“You used my credentials.”
“Mom set that up.”
“Did you use them?”
“Yes.”
“You told Naomi I approved company.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to marry her while still married to Kathleen.”
His jaw tightened.
“That wasn’t about Mom.”
Good.
At least no excuse.
“Why didn’t you divorce Kathleen?”
“She wouldn’t sign.”
Kathleen had evidence otherwise. She asked for divorce twice; Austin delayed because marital finances exposed fraud.
I said:
“That’s a lie.”
He closed eyes.
“Okay.”
“Try again.”
“I didn’t want divorce discovery.”
There.
Financial disclosure could reveal hidden assets.
“So you stayed legally married because divorce might expose fraud, then tried to marry Naomi because her father had money.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“You were going to commit bigamy?”
“I thought we could handle paperwork later.”
Classic Austin.
Consequences later.
“Why hit me?”
His face collapsed slightly.
“I was furious.”
“Mom put tire iron there.”
“Yes.”
“She told you scare me.”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell you break my knee?”
“No.”
“Then that part was yours.”
Long silence.
“Yes.”
Important.
He could not outsource.
I asked:
“Why did she clap?”
He started crying.
“I don’t know.”
“I do.”
Because Mom saw success.
He whispered:
“She hates you.”
That hurt despite everything.
“No.”
Then he corrected:
“She’s afraid of you.”
Closer.
Mom may love in distorted way.
But fear of questions dominated.
Austin said:
“She always said you’d be the one who ruined everything.”
“I ruined fraud.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, Austin. Language matters.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You really are Dad.”
I froze.
“You remember him?”
“Pieces.”
He told me memory of rehab.
Dad hugged him.
Amanda waited outside room.
Dad whispered:
“Don’t believe everything your mother says.”
Austin told Mom.
Mom cried entire drive home.
Said Dad was trying turn him against her.
After Dad died, she told Austin he escaped rehab and ran away.
Austin believed.
Mom made him promise:
“Never abandon me like your father.”
That became leash.
Whenever Austin resisted:
“You’re just like Gregory.”
Whenever he obeyed:
“You’re man of family.”
I saw architecture.
But Austin had twenty adult years to inspect it.
He didn’t.
Because benefits were good.
Mom paid debts.
Covered DUI.
Helped businesses.
Fraud funded lifestyle.
He learned loyalty pays.
I learned independence.
Same mother.
Different adaptation.
Before leaving, Austin said:
“Will you testify against me?”
“If subpoenaed, yes.”
“Can you tell judge I was manipulated?”
“I can tell truth.”
“That includes Mom.”
“It also includes you.”
He looked down.
“I figured.”
That was maybe first adult thing.
Austin accepted plea.
Aggravated assault causing great bodily injury.
Healthcare fraud conspiracy.
Identity theft.
Wire fraud.
Money laundering.
Forgery.
Obstruction-related counts.
Bigamy attempt? He never completed second marriage, so not bigamy. Fraudulent representations to Naomi.
Sentence potentially long.
His cooperation reduced.
He received fourteen years federal/state coordinated? Complex. We can state aggregate plea with concurrent/consecutive leading 14 years.
Some thought too little.
I thought prison length would not repair knee.
Restitution mattered.
Accountability mattered.
Safety.
Fourteen years was significant.
He surrendered properties.
Kathleen received divorce finally.
Naomi recovered father’s investment mostly through asset seizure? $500k frozen before moved fully. $380k recovered.
Naomi’s father sued.
Mom went trial.
She refused plea.
Of course.
Her defense strategy:
Austin mastermind.
Monica vindictive.
Gregory addicted and died accidentally.
Amanda merely trusting mother.
She denied healthcare knowledge beyond charity.
Documents contradicted.
But sophisticated defendants rarely confess.
Trial would hinge on evidence.
Before trial, my employer completed internal review.
I was cleared.
No evidence I knowingly participated.
My credentials compromised.
Fake account not mine.
Signature forged.
Administrative leave ended.
David offered return.
I looked at cane.
“Can I work remotely?”
“Yes.”
I returned.
First case:
Billing anomaly.
I almost laughed.
Numbers still safer.
But now numbers carried voices.
Every suspicious claim could represent person.
I became more patient.
Less cynical maybe.
Physical therapy progressed.
Ninety degrees flexion.
Then 110.
Walking with cane.
Running uncertain.
I grieved.
Not everything restores.
Happy ending cannot require body becoming before.
I bought stationary bike.
Adapt.
Kathleen and I became strange friends.
Naomi too.
Three women Austin lied to.
We did not make anti-Austin club.
We had separate relationships.
Kathleen started graduate school.
Naomi eventually dated? Not relevant.
She rebuilt trust.
Patricia visited San Diego.
My aunt hugged me carefully around cane.
She brought Dad’s paramedic badge.
“Should be yours.”
I held.
Austin might want too.
I asked Patricia.
She said:
“You decide.”
I chose scan/copy and later gave original? Dad belongs both children. I decided not unilaterally.
I wrote Austin:
Patricia gave Dad’s badge. Do you want shared arrangement?
He replied:
You keep it until I get out. I don’t deserve it now.
I wrote back:
Deserving isn’t point. He was your father too.
We agreed badge displayed at Patricia’s home temporarily.
No possession battle.
Family beginning differently.
Then Mom sent letter.
Monica,
You think you won because Austin betrayed me.
You haven’t.
Your father was not the hero you imagine.
Ask Patricia why Gregory was really investigating clinic.
I stared.
Another secret.
I called Patricia.
She went quiet.
“What does she mean?”
Patricia said:
“Your father wasn’t only reporting fraud.”
“What else?”
“He was trying to prove one of the patients was you.”
“What?”
She explained that when I was ten, Amanda had allegedly used my identity in medical billing.
This scheme began with me as a child.
Dad discovered a claim for an infusion I never received.
That was what triggered his investigation.
Twenty years later, Mom used same identity again.
May you like
Not random.
I had been her safest phantom patient from the beginning.
