My mother squeezed my wrist before reading the will and whispered, “If you receive a single dollar, I’ll destroy you”… but when the lawyer opened another file, the entire courtroom discovered who had locked my grandmother up and why.

He turned toward the door and the parking lot nurse walked in to sit next to him. “Pearl knew perfectly well what she was signing and she asked me to tell the truth if necessary,” the nurse said firmly.

Part 3

The nurse introduced herself as Megan, and she stated clearly that Miranda had taken Pearl’s phone away. “She restricted the granddaughter’s visits and pressured her to sign documents when she was too weak,” Megan added.

My mother tried to claim it wasn’t true, but nobody was listening to her anymore. The lawyer pulled out a photocopied sheet and read a fragment of my grandmother’s final diary entry.

“Miranda hasn’t let Jade in for more than two months, and she took my phone while I was sleeping,” the diary read. The writing confirmed that Pearl loved her daughter but wouldn’t allow her to take everything away from me.

“My granddaughter is the only person who has loved me without expecting anything in return,” the lawyer continued reading. Miranda slumped down in her chair and tried to claim she was just confused about what she was doing.