“Mom, we’ll take care of everything,” Paula said softly, the sweetness in her voice masking her true intentions. Kyle sat beside her, his face a mask of boredom and entitlement.

I nodded slowly, as if resigned to my fate, before signing the documents with what appeared to be a shaking hand. But what they didn’t know was that I had already transferred the bulk of my assets into an irrevocable trust controlled by a longtime confidant. The documents they were witnessing were little more than a ruse, a final test to see how far their greed would drive them.