My sister-in-law kept stealing my jewelry and had convinced the whole family that I was "an unstable liar"—so I set a trap for her the next time she came for dinner.

"What was it?"

Everyone rushed towards the room.

I followed them, my heart at peace for the first time in months.

Betty stood frozen in front of the hairdresser.

My open jewelry box was in her trembling hands.

The alarm was screaming between his fingers.

My note had landed on the rug, at her feet.

My husband bent down and picked it up.

My note had landed on the carpet, at her feet.

He turned pale as he read it aloud.

"Do you still think I'm making things up? Thanks for proving me right, Betty."

She dropped the box.

The alarm stopped as soon as the lid closed.

"It's not what you think," she stammered. "I was looking for a tissue."

"In my jewelry box?" I asked.

"It's not what you think."

"I... I thought there was someone in the bathroom," she exclaimed.

"But we were all at the table when you left," said my brother-in-law in a calm voice.

Betty's eyes scanned the room, searching for an ally.

But no one came to her.

"You put that thing there to make me look like a bad guy," she retorted, turning sharply towards me. "That's exactly what I warned everyone about. She's obsessed with me."

No one approached her.

"I may have hidden it, but you would never have found it if you hadn't come into our room and opened that box," I said.

She opened and closed her mouth.

For once, no clever lies came out.

My husband looked at her the way one looks at a stranger.

"Betty," he said slowly. "Why did you shout 'you had no right' before anyone even came in?"

The question hung in the air like a blade.

For once, no clever lies came out.

"Because…" she began, then stopped. "Because I knew she was going to twist my words."

"No," he said. "You screamed because you got caught."

My mother-in-law stepped forward, her voice trembling.

"Betty, is that true? You stole things from her?"

"She has loads of them," Betty spat. "She married a rich man without ever having earned a penny. This bracelet, these earrings, none of it means anything to her."

"You screamed because you got caught."

A deathly silence fell over the room.

She had just confessed, without even realizing it.

My husband looked at her as if he no longer recognized the woman standing before him.

But none of us could have guessed at that moment that Betty's lies and thefts went far beyond me.

My mother-in-law stared at her daughter, her eyes filled with tears.

"Betty..." she murmured. "Tell me you didn't do this."

Betty's lies and thefts went far beyond me.

Instead of denying it, Betty rolled her eyes.

"They were just jewelry."

The silence that followed seemed heavier to me than the alarm had ever been.

Then my brother-in-law spoke.

"If she lied about that," he said slowly, "what else did she lie about?"

My husband scanned the room before turning back to his sister.

"What else did she lie about?"

"We're coming to your place. We need to see how far this goes."

Betty laughed.

"Absolutely not."

"Yes," said my mother-in-law, her voice suddenly firm. "We're all going."

Betty's smile faded.

" Mom… "

"You've been telling us for months that she was unstable," my mother-in-law interrupted, pointing at me. "And now we catch you sneaking into her room with her jewelry box in your hands."

"We're going to your place."

She shook her head in disbelief.

"Either we walk around your house together... or I'll call the police."

Betty turned pale.

For the first time that evening, she looked genuinely scared.

***

Twenty minutes later, all six of us were standing in front of Betty's front door.

She kept saying that we were exaggerating.

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