Old Mom Finds Her Retirement Savings Gone, Sees Her Son Arriving in a New Car – Story of the Day

After working tirelessly her entire life, a woman decides to retire and rest at home. One day, she opens her locker to recount her savings but feels shocked upon realizing her hard-earned money is missing. Where did it go?

All her life, Hope had worked hard to raise her children, Nicholas and Melody. She worked day and night to give them the best of everything. Every month, she would save a small amount of money and keep it in her locker instead of depositing it in her savings account.

"I can't trust these banks with my hard-earned money!" she would say whenever someone would tell her how risky it was to keep her money at home.

Hope didn't quit working even after her children grew up and moved out. She continued her job, hoping to save as much money as possible for her post-retirement life.

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Hope was watching TV in her room one day when she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly got up and walked towards the door to open it.

"Oh, Nick!" she exclaimed upon seeing her son at the doorstep. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Mom," Nicholas replied, picking up brown paper bags from the floor. "I bought some groceries for you."

"Oh, honey! You didn't have to do that," Hope said as she helped her son pick up the grocery bags.

After keeping the bags inside the house, Hope asked her son to stay for dinner, but she noticed he acted strangely. He wasn't looking her in the eye while talking and kept turning towards the door to leave.

"I'll see you soon, Mom," Nicholas replied and hurried out of the door before his mother could hug him. Feeling suspicious about his behavior, Hope opened the door to see her son out, but she was shocked when she looked at his car. Nicholas was driving a brand-new car parked a few steps away from Hope's house.

"How did he buy a new car after losing his job? And why did he hide it from me?" Hope wondered. "That's strange!"

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A few days later…

"Oh, my God!" Hope gasped as she felt her head spin at work. "I can't…"

It was almost time for Hope to go home when she suddenly felt dizzy. She couldn't understand what was happening to her. "Call an ambulance, please! I'm not feeling well!" she told her coworker.

Five minutes later, an ambulance arrived outside Hope's workplace. The paramedics helped her walk down the stairs and enter the ambulance. In no time, Hope was present inside the emergency department of a nearby hospital.

"You don't seem to handle stress so well," the doctor told Hope after running a few tests on her. "Do you still go to work?"

"Yes, I do," Hope replied.

"Well, I suggest you apply for your retirement now," the doctor said. "Work-related stress isn't good for you at this age. Please stay at home and rest."

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After returning home that day, Hope thought the doctor was right. She believed it was time for her to retire. "After all, I have saved enough money to live independently for the next few years," she thought.

Then, the older lady opened her closet and unlocked her safe to count her savings. However, she was shocked when she pulled open the locker door and didn't find a single penny of her retirement funds.

"WHERE DID ALL MY MONEY GO?" she asked in shock while patting the insides of her empty locker. "WHO STOLE MY SAVINGS?"

Suddenly, Nicholas' brand new car came into her mind. "No! No! No!" she shook her head in disbelief. "My son wouldn't do that!"

Thinking about Nicholas' strange behavior during his last visit confirmed her suspicions, but she didn't want to believe he had stolen her hard-earned money. Feeling confused, Hope picked up her phone and called her son.

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"Nick?" Hope took her son's name angrily. "Did you buy a new car using the money you stole from my locker?"

"What?" Nicholas was shocked. "What are you talking about, Mom? I didn't steal any money!"

"I know you stole my savings!" Hope shouted through the phone. "Where did you buy that brand-new car from, huh? The car you were hiding from me?"

"Mom, let me explain―"

"I don't want to hear anything!" Hope screamed. "I want you to return all my money! Every single penny! Or else I'll report you to the police!"

The older lady hung up before her son could reply. She was fuming at the thought of Nicholas taking all her hard-earned money for his enjoyment.

"I won't let him get away with this!" Hope screamed before she suddenly felt dizzy again. This time, she called her daughter, Melody, instead of an ambulance.

"I'm not feeling well, honey," Hope told her daughter. "Can you please come over to my place? I don't know what's happening."

"Don't worry. I'll be there in half an hour, Mom," Melody replied. "Please call me if you need anything else, okay?"

"Okay, honey," Hope said in a shaky voice.

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"Mom! What happened?" Melody held her mother's hand. "Are you okay?"

"I think my blood pressure shot up," Hope said. "I was so angry."

"Angry at what, Mom?" Melody was curious.

"Your brother!" Hope complained. "He stole all my savings from my locker and bought himself a brand-new car. Can you believe that?"

"Really?" Melody looked at her mother with eyes wide open. "How could he do that? He shouldn't have stolen your money. What a terrible thing to do!"

While Melody spoke against her brother, Hope noticed that her daughter wasn't wearing her gold necklace and earrings. She also felt it was strange of Melody to use an old, damaged phone instead of the expensive phone her boyfriend gifted her. Curious, Hope asked her daughter about it.

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"Melody?" Hope said sternly. "Where's the gold jewelry that you always wear? And why do you have this old phone? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Mom," Melody gave a weak smile as her fingers stroked her neck. "I forgot to wear my jewelry because I was in a hurry to come here. And I started using this phone after I broke mine accidentally."

"But that was a brand new phone, Melody. You should be careful." Hope said.

"You're right," Melody nodded before quickly changing the topic. "I think you should sleep now, Mom. You seem tired."

"Yes, I'll take a quick nap," Hope said as she got into bed. A few minutes later, she heard the front door close as her daughter left the house.

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The following morning, Hope opened her safe again after breakfast because she still couldn't believe that her son had stolen all her savings. However, she was surprised to see a few rolled-up dollar bills inside.

"Where did these come from?" she thought while picking them up. She counted them and realized they only added up to a few thousand dollars, which was nowhere close to the amount she had saved over the years.

"I guess I didn't notice them yesterday," she thought, closing the safe. Then, she heard the doorbell ring.

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Upon opening the door, Hope saw Nicholas standing on the doorstep. "What do you want now?" she grumbled. "Go away!"

"Mom, please listen to me!" Nicholas begged. "I need to tell you something."

"I will only talk to you once you return my money! Now go away!" Hope shouted at her son and pushed the door to close, but Nicholas pressed his hands against it and forcefully entered the house.

"Mom! Please listen to me for once!" he demanded. "I can prove my innocence. I can show you I didn't steal a penny from your locker!"

After listening to her son's words, Hope couldn't refuse to listen to him. Looking at his confidence, she could tell her son was not lying. There was something he wanted to show her.

Once Hope agreed to listen to her son, he pulled out his phone and showed Melody's messages to his mother. "Look how she was begging me for money a few months ago, Mom!" he said while scrolling through Melody's messages. "She told me her boyfriend's business went bust, and he needed money to pay his debt."

"She never told me about this!" Hope frowned. "Did you help your sister, Nick?"

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"No, Mom," Nicholas shook his head. "I didn't have a job then, and you know I don't have a lot of savings. I told her I didn't have money."

"But how did you buy that new car?" Hope asked her son.

"I just got a new job as a courier, and my company gave it to me for delivery purposes," Nicholas revealed. "I didn't tell anyone about it because I feel ashamed. I know everyone will laugh at me when they learn I work as a courier despite having years of experience as a manager. This is the only reason I hid my car from you, Mom. I promise I didn't steal your money!"

"So you mean your sister...?" Hope covered her mouth with her hands. "I can't believe that!"

"I am not sure, Mom," Nicholas said. "I think you should talk to her and find out."

Then, Hope apologized to her son for accusing him of stealing her retirement funds. "I feel ashamed, Nick. I'm so sorry," she said.

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Later that evening, Nicholas drove his mother to Melody's house. They wanted to confront her and thought it would be best to talk to her at her place.

"Looks like you returned the money you stole from Mom's locker!" Melody taunted upon seeing her brother standing at her doorstep.

"You are supposed to return my money, Melody!" Hope shouted at her daughter. "You stole my money!"

Melody felt a lump in her throat upon hearing her mother's words. "Mom, I…" she tried to explain but burst into tears because of guilt.

"I'm sorry for stealing your money, Mom," Melody cried. "I needed it to pay my boyfriend's debt, so I thought of taking money from your locker. He promised he would return every penny, but he didn't."

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"Oh, God!" Hope gasped.

"Mom, I wanted to return all your money. I sold all my jewelry, but that wasn't enough. I even sold my phone and laptop," Melody wiped tears off her cheeks. "I also started working double shifts hoping to save enough money, but I guess...it's too late now. You found out about the money."

"I'm so sorry for what happened, honey," Hope hugged her daughter tightly.

"I left the money in your locker when I visited you yesterday," Melody said. "I will return all the money I stole from you. I'm so sorry, Mom!"

"You didn't use the money, so why should you pay it back?" Nicholas smiled at his sister and mother. "I have a plan!"

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When Nicholas handed the documents to him, Melody emerged from her boyfriend's bedroom wearing a silk robe. "Come here, honey!" she called him.

Thinking about his girlfriend, the man quickly signed the documents without reading them and slammed the door in Nicholas' face.

"YES!!" Nicholas smiled wide after looking at the documents and waited for his sister a block from her boyfriend's house. Meanwhile, Melody blindfolded her boyfriend, tied him to the bed, and left.

"Did he sign?" she asked immediately after sitting inside Nicholas' car. "Did your plan work?"

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"Yes, Melody! He didn't notice that I made him sign a check!" Nicholas chuckled. "What a loser!"

It turned out that Nicholas disguised a blank check as an official document before asking Melody's boyfriend to sign it. Now, the siblings could write any amount on it and get it cashed into their mother's bank account.

Meanwhile, Hope waited for her children at home. She prayed that their plan worked because she had involved her ex-boss. She had spent weeks convincing him to pretend to be a business partner for her daughter's boyfriend. Eventually, he agreed to speak to Melody's boyfriend over the phone to make him believe he was interested in a business deal. As a result, Melody's boyfriend gladly agreed to work with Hope's ex-boss. He expected to earn thousands of dollars in profit but lost much more because of his greed.

"Mom! We did it!" Nicholas exclaimed while entering his mother's house a few minutes later. "We got your money back!"

"I left him tied to the bed!" Melody laughed. "I'm sorry for stealing your money, Mom. I can't believe I broke your trust for a loser like him!"

"It's okay, honey," Hope smiled at her daughter while her eyes glistened with tears. "I'm glad this experience taught you a lesson."

"Yes, Mom," Melody held her mother's wrinkly hand. "I will never break your trust again."

"Trust is difficult to build but easy to break," Hope told her children. "Always remember that!"

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What can we learn from this story?

• Never break your family's trust. Melody stole her mother's money but later regretted it when she realized breaking her mother's trust for her boyfriend's sake was not worth it.
• Never accuse someone without evidence. Hope blamed her son for stealing her retirement savings but regretted accusing him after learning he was innocent.

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Click here to read another story about a boy who stole his parents' money for a dinner date. He thought everything worked well until he saw his father in the same restaurant where he brought his girlfriend for dinner.

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