At first, I thought I was just being paranoid. Each time my daughter went out with her friends, I noticed that a little bit of money seemed to disappear from my wallet. It wasn’t much at first—a few dollars here, a couple of dollars there. But as the pattern continued, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.At first, I tried to brush it off. Maybe I had miscounted, maybe I spent it and forgot. But as the days went on, it became undeniable. I needed answers. So, one evening, I decided to test my suspicions. I carefully placed a crisp twenty-dollar bill on my dresser in a way that would make it impossible not to notice if it were taken. That evening, as usual, my daughter prepared to go out. I waited until she left, and then rushed to my room. The bill was gone,

The confusion and hurt hit me like a wave. Why would she do this? We weren’t wealthy, but she had everything she needed. She had her own allowance, saved her pocket money, and I always made sure she had enough for anything she wanted to do. So why would she steal from me? I couldn’t stop the nagging question that gnawed at me: What was really going on?