For the following three days, I lived in a state of absolute panic while attempting to salvage our financial situation. I spent countless hours filling out fraud forms, sitting on hold with various bank departments, researching short term loans, and staring blankly at the mounting bills I could no longer afford to pay. During this chaotic time, I barely paid attention to Maya, who was quietly moving around our small apartment always keeping her tablet close by. My exhausting efforts seemed completely pointless until my phone suddenly rang at two in the morning. The screen showed an international call originating from Dubai. I answered to hear Monique sobbing uncontrollably and screaming my name through the phone speaker. She demanded to know what I had done to her, which left me sitting upright in bed in utter confusion. Monique frantically explained that her bank account was completely frozen, Chad had his accounts locked as well, and their hotel was refusing to let them leave.
Through her angry tears, Monique accused me of ruining her life and sending detailed evidence to the bank. She claimed that the authorities had flagged the massive transfer, frozen all the stolen funds, and started asking very serious questions about her activities. A deep chill ran through my body as I realized I had not sent any evidence to anyone because I did not have any proof to send. Monique suddenly stopped talking and the international call went completely dead. I slowly lowered the phone and walked quietly down the dark hallway toward the bedroom of my daughter. Maya was fully awake and sitting cross legged on her bed with her tablet illuminating her face in the dark room. She looked like an innocent child who should have been sleeping, yet she also looked like someone who perfectly understood why a massive sum of money was suddenly untouchable on the other side of the world. When she asked if I was mad, I sat gently beside her and asked her to explain exactly what she had done. Maya took a deep breath and opened a secure folder on her screen.