It could pay for education.
Medical expenses.
Therapy.
Extracurricular activities.
Reasonable clothing.
Travel related to education or family.
Eventually college.
Eventually a first home.
But every expenditure had to benefit Nia.
Not Aaron.
Not a future spouse.
Not another child.
Nia.
After Aaron married Celeste two years later, he had resisted giving her any access.
Not because he distrusted her.
Because the trust documents were clear.
Then Aaron’s work became more demanding.
He spent several days each month visiting construction sites.
Nia needed orthodontic work.
Therapy appointments.
School expenses.
Eventually Aaron added Celeste as an authorized purchaser for transactions directly related to Nia.
Not trustee.
Not beneficiary.
Authorized purchaser.
Every quarter, Aaron reviewed the statements.
At least he believed he did.
Now he was driving toward the department store wondering how a transaction for nearly four thousand dollars had hit the card.
He called the bank.
A woman answered after identity verification.
“Mr. Brooks, we blocked the transaction because the purchase pattern was inconsistent with prior trust activity.”
“What purchase pattern?”
“Luxury retail.”
Aaron tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
“Has that card been used there before?”
Pause.
“I can see multiple purchases at the same merchant.”
His stomach dropped.
“How many?”
“I can’t complete a full historical audit by phone.”
“Tell me what you can.”
Another pause.
“I’m showing eleven transactions at Harper & Rowe in the past fourteen months.”
Aaron stopped breathing.
“Eleven?”
“Yes.”
“Total?”
“I would need—”
“Please.”
The woman heard something in his voice.
“One moment.”
Aaron drove.
His heart hammered.
The representative returned.
“Approximately nineteen thousand four hundred dollars.”
The highway blurred.
Aaron nearly missed his exit.
“That can’t be right.”
“I’m reading posted transactions associated with the authorized purchaser card.”
Aaron’s voice dropped.
“What else?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Other merchants.”
He already knew he did not want the answer.
He asked anyway.
The bank representative suggested he speak to the trust administration department and offered to freeze the card.
“Freeze it.”
“Immediately?”
“Immediately.”
“Would you like to freeze all authorized purchaser access?”
“Yes.”
“Your trustee card too?”
“No.”
“Only secondary card?”
“Yes.”
Aaron took a breath.
“And flag the entire account.”
“For fraud?”
His throat tightened.
“Yes.”
The word felt like betrayal before he even understood who had committed it.
By the time Aaron entered Harper & Rowe, his hands were shaking.
Not visibly.
He had spent twenty years learning to control his face at construction sites where panic solved nothing.
He used the same skill now.
The shoe department sat on the second floor.
He took the escalator two steps at a time.
Then he saw them.
Jordan.
Layla.
Celeste.
Nia.
The boxes.
So many boxes.
And one white-and-lavender pair sitting alone behind the cashier.
Aaron slowed.
Nia noticed him first.