For 4 years, I picked up my sister’s kids from school for free. One day I was 37 minutes late, and she screamed at me in front of them: “Not with my children!” Then she shoved me out of her house. I stopped picking them up. 11 days later, the school called me. Then my sister called 6 times. I turned my phone face down.

Nicole seemed frustrated that I wasn’t arguing.

Then she tried another approach.

“Isn’t it true you’ve always resented me because I have children and you don’t?”

The referee interrupted.

“Please limit your questions to the matters relevant to this hearing.”

Nicole’s jaw tightened.

Then she demanded,

“Didn’t I pay you in cash every month?”

“No.”

She raised her voice.

“That’s a lie!”

Teresa calmly opened a folder.

She read aloud the messages Nicole had sent after transferring the money.

One asking for the April payment back.

Another explaining the June transfer was a mistake.

Then she showed the certified records confirming the money had been returned.

Nicole became silent.

The referee placed two documents beside each other.

One was Nicole’s sworn statement.

The other was the message she’d sent forbidding me from seeing her children.

Then she asked a simple question.