I Thanked My Aunt For The Bicycle She Gave Me, But She Replied, “I Actually Gave You A Mercedes-Benz, You Know?”

The Thanksgiving Revelation

“Tracy, I’m sure I gave you $500,000. What on earth are you talking about?”

The Thanksgiving dining room was filled with the rich scent of spices, a turkey gleaming golden brown at the centre of the table. I was thanking my Aunt Sandra for the bicycle she had supposedly given me as a gift.

“I didn’t give you any bicycle.” She replied, staring at me with a deeply puzzled expression and holding a fine crystal wine glass in her hand.

At the moment she said that, I heard a sound in my ears as if something had irreparably shattered. I gently set down the silver fork I was holding and met my aunt’s unwavering gaze.

“$500,000? Yes. You travel all over the world for work, don’t you? That’s why I gave you money instead of some object.”

“I transferred it to your account. With that amount, you could easily buy a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz.” She continued, but before she had even finished speaking, my younger sister Emma, who was sitting across from me, began coughing violently.

The coffee she had been drinking splashed onto her pristine white silk dress, but she didn’t even try to wipe it off. She was staring at our aunt in shock.

The hand of my mother, Kathy Irving, who was seated beside her, was trembling slightly as well. She took a hurried sip of red wine as if trying to escape, but her eyes darted restlessly, unable to focus on anything.

“Aunt, thank you very much, but that’s strange.” I said, choosing my words carefully and keeping my voice as calm as possible.

“What was delivered in front of my house was definitely a rusty used bicycle, almost 10 years old.”

“Used?” My aunt’s eyebrows shot up in suspicion.

“Yes. A few days ago, my mother called me and said, ‘It’s a gift from Aunt Sandra. She asked me to send you an old bicycle she used to use so you wouldn’t get out of shape.'”

“Right now, what’s sitting in the bike parking area of my apartment is that old fitness bike. The chain is off and the basket is bent.”

Silence spread across the dining table. My aunt was a hard-nosed businesswoman who had built a real estate empire from nothing.

I watched calmly as doubt and sharp anger blended together in her eyes.

“Kathy, explain this to me.” Her voice was low and cold.

“A few weeks ago, I definitely deposited $500,000 into the account I share with Tracy, and I told you, let Tracy know and let her choose whatever she likes. Why has my gift been replaced with a bicycle?”

My mother’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly as she cast a pleading look toward Emma, seated beside her. But Emma was staring intently at her smartphone, her fingers moving frantically across the screen.

It was as if she were desperately trying to erase something of hers from existence right then and there.

“Well, Sandra, that’s just some kind of mistake. Tracy must be misunderstanding something.” My mother’s voice cracked, utterly lacking in conviction.

I lowered my gaze to my fingertips. I make my living as a cyber crime investigator, tracking down numbers that have vanished into the digital shadows, working for governments and international banks.

The specific figure my aunt mentioned, $500,000, my mother’s obvious agitation, and my sister’s fingers constantly trying to hide her phone; my professional instincts were quietly but powerfully telling me the truth.

Beneath this lavish Thanksgiving dinner lay a nauseating betrayal carried out by my own flesh and blood.