The next morning I went straight to the bank.
The building was old, quiet, and smelled like polished wood and stale air-conditioning. I handed the passbook to the teller and waited for the usual look people give when they expect to explain that something no longer matters.
Instead, the teller froze.
She stared at the passbook, then at her screen, then at me. Her face changed. She stood up and disappeared into a back office without another word.
When she came back, she locked the front doors.
That got my attention.
A woman named Mrs. Patel stepped out from the hallway and asked me to come with her. I refused until she told me what was happening.
Then she said the sentence that changed everything.
My grandmother had made special arrangements years ago. If anyone ever came in claiming to be Elise Hale and carrying that passbook, the bank was under instructions to verify my identity, secure the building, and call police.
I asked why.
Mrs. Patel looked at me for a long second, then said three people had already tried to access the account before me.
I knew who she meant before she answered.
My father had tried first.
And not just once.
He had once walked into that same bank with a forged death certificate claiming I was dead.
I had been twelve years old.
Part 3: The First Theft
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