Nobody had an answer. Todd was always home when the kids got back from school, and the only things he ever said about work were vague mentions of meetings and deals. He drove a nice truck and wore expensive clothes, yet he never left the house to earn anything, and he kept asking Maya’s mom for gas money and grocery money while claiming his cash was tied up in investments. So Maya started paying attention. On his social media she found something he had never brought up, an ex-wife and two children, and she messaged the ex-wife, whose name was Brianna.
Brianna told her everything. Todd hadn’t held a job in three years. He found single mothers with money, moved in, lived off them until they caught on, and then moved to the next one. He owed Brianna $12,000 in child support, and she knew of four women he’d done this to. He kept changing his phone number, which was why she hadn’t been able to find him for months. She described how well he spotted lonely women, made them feel special, and then slowly took over their money and their kids. That’s the usual order with financial manipulation: the affection comes first, and the control only arrives after you’re attached.
A Dinner Made to Get Him Talking
Maya gave Brianna her address, but she also knew Todd had to be out of her family’s life, and that her mom wasn’t going to take Maya’s word for it. So she told her mom she wanted to apologize properly and offered to cook Todd his favorite dinner on Friday. Her mom was overjoyed and kept calling it a big step for the family.
That Friday, Maya made a huge meal and played the repentant teenager. She refilled Todd’s beer, told him how sorry she was for being difficult, and let him enjoy the feeling of winning. He loosened up with every bottle. By nine o’clock he was drunk and bragging that he had her mom wrapped around his finger.
He said he’d soon talk her into adding him to the house deed, because once his name was on it he’d have real security. Maya’s mom frowned and asked what he meant. Todd laughed and told her she was so desperate for love she’d give him anything. He called her pathetic and said that dating lonely single moms was like taking candy from babies. People tend to show their real face when they believe the whole room is on their side.
That’s when the doorbell rang. Maya opened the door to a woman with dark hair pulled tightly back and tired eyes, hugging a thick manila folder to her chest. Next to her stood a police officer whose badge read Tucker Bentley. The woman looked past Maya, spotted Todd on the couch, and said, “That’s him.”
Handcuffs in the Living Room
Todd’s face drained of color. He tried to stand, but his legs wobbled and he had to grab the arm of the couch. Officer Bentley told him to sit back down and asked everyone to stay calm. Maya’s mom, bewildered, wanted to know who these people were. The woman said her name was Brianna and that she’d been looking for Todd for eight months.
Bentley explained that he worked with the family court division and was there about $12,000 in unpaid child support. Ryan drifted out of his room and stood silently in the hallway. Brianna opened her folder and held up a photo of two little girls named Haley and Susie, then described how Todd had walked out on them three years earlier, changed his phone number six times, and never paid a cent. The officer added that Todd had arrest warrants in two counties for child support evasion and for fraud tied to false financial paperwork.
Todd called it all a mix-up and reached for Maya’s mom’s hand, but she yanked it back as if he might burn her. Then she asked him plainly whether he had children he’d never told her about. Maya could hear how badly her mom wanted him to say no. Todd stared at the floor and gave a small nod, and that was enough. Her mom made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a sob, asking how he could lie about something like that, again and again, while Ryan crept up beside Maya and gripped her arm, shaking.
Todd insisted he’d meant to tell her but the timing never felt right. Brianna laughed and said the other women had heard that exact story. Bentley took out his handcuffs and told Todd to stand and turn around, and Todd did as he was told. As the cuffs clicked, he told Maya’s mom he loved her, blamed his crazy ex-wife for stirring up trouble, and said that if she’d just bail him out they could work it through. Brianna told her that she was the fifth woman Todd had done this to, and that she was welcome to call the others.