At my own graduation, my father slapped me so hard my cap hit the floor

Ethan came to see me again.

This time, he didn’t look like the golden child anymore. He looked exhausted and scared.

“I need to tell you something,” he said as soon as I let him inside.

I crossed my arms and waited.

He sat down and stared at the floor.

“Mom and Dad didn’t just take your scholarship,” he said quietly. “They also used your name to take out credit cards. Small ones at first. Then bigger ones. They told me it was temporary, that they would pay them off. But they kept doing it.”

I felt my blood run cold.

“How much?” I asked.

Ethan hesitated.

“Almost twenty thousand in credit card debt… in your name.”

I stared at him.

For a moment, I couldn’t even speak.

“You knew?” I finally asked. “You knew they were doing this and you never told me?”

Ethan looked down.

“I was scared,” he admitted. “Dad said if I told anyone, they would cut me off completely. And Mom kept saying you were doing fine on your own. That you didn’t need the money as much as we did.”

I laughed bitterly.

“So you let them destroy my credit and steal my future just so you could keep living comfortably?”

Ethan didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

Because there was no good answer.

I stood up and walked to the door.

“Get out,” I said.

“Mia—”

“Get out, Ethan. I don’t want to see you right now.”

He stood up slowly. Before he left, he turned back one last time.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I really am.”

I didn’t reply.