Part 2: While I was working the overnight shift on New Year's Eve, my two children arrived at my brother's house for our family celebration.

Two hours after my parents left my house, my doorbell rang again.

I expected Ross back for another screaming match, or perhaps Dad returning with more questions. But when I peered through the peephole, I saw Chloe, Ross's wife, standing alone on the porch. Her designer coat was unbuttoned, her hair pulled into a messy knot, completely devoid of the manicured perfection she always projected on social media.

I opened the door cautiously. "Chloe?"

"Can I come in, Dana? Please." Her voice was trembling.

I stepped back, allowing her inside. She didn't look at the decor or comment on the modest size of my home as she usually did. She sat down at the kitchen island, buried her face in her manicured hands, and began to sob.

"I didn't know about the kids," she choked out between gasps. "Dana, I swear to God on my life, I didn't know Calvin and Molly were outside. Ross told me you had called and said you were keeping them home because Molly had a fever. He told me that at six in the evening!"

I poured a glass of warm water and pushed it toward her. "Ross took them from the sitter’s house himself at five-thirty, Chloe. He told the sitter he was taking them early so they could play with your dog before the guests arrived."

Chloe stared at the water, her eyes wild with betrayal. "He wanted their presence to show Dad that he was the dutiful uncle, but when his high-rolling investor friends arrived early, he shoved them onto the back patio through the sunroom so they wouldn't ruin his aesthetic. He told me the patio door was stuck when I heard a thumping sound around eight. He lied to me. He’s been lying to me about everything."

"What else, Chloe?" I asked, sensing that the dam was finally breaking.

"The house is going into pre-foreclosure," Chloe confessed in a ragged whisper. "We got the notice two weeks ago. He told me it was a clerical error by the title company. But this morning, after you froze that linked account, the private school called. The tuition checks for our own kids bounced. He hasn't paid our car notes in sixty days. Everything we have is borrowed, leased, or stolen."