Richard held the phone tightly.
“Why did you change your PIN?” Mamutsi’s voice came through the speaker, loud and angry.
Everyone in the room could hear her.
Richard looked at the children for a moment before answering.
“Why did you take my bank card?” he asked calmly.
There was a short silence on the line.
Then she laughed slightly.
“I needed money,” she said casually.
“You needed money?” Richard repeated slowly.
“You took all the money from the account.”
“So what?” she replied.
“That money is for the house.”
Richard shook his head.
“The house?” he said quietly.
“There’s no food in this house. The kids came back from school hungry.”
“That’s not my problem,” she snapped.
“I told them they can come eat here.”
Praise lowered her head, embarrassed.
Richard’s voice became fir
