PART 2
I calmly placed my napkin beside my plate.
“What game?”
“You know exactly what you’re doing,” Daniel said. “You’re making me look stingy in front of everyone.”
“No,” I replied. “Your bank balance is doing that.”
Kyle laughed once.
Then immediately stopped when Daniel glared at him.
Patricia leaned toward me.
“Family members share what they have.”
I nodded.
“I completely agree.”
“Then start behaving like a wife.”
Daniel gave a satisfied little smile, as though his mother had finally trapped me.
That was when I realized he still had no idea what was coming.
I reached into my handbag and removed a folder.
Daniel’s smile disappeared.
Inside was a copy of the operating agreement for Westbridge Analytics.
Three years earlier, Daniel had begged me to hire his father’s struggling logistics company as one of Westbridge’s vendors.
I agreed.
Not long afterward, Kyle’s business became a vendor too.
Then Megan’s marketing agency joined them.
Over the years, companies controlled by Daniel’s relatives had received more than $430,000 in contracts from my firm.
They liked calling it family supporting family.
Daniel preferred to tell people that his connections had helped make my company successful.
Neither version was accurate.
Those contracts existed because I had personally approved them.
And once Daniel demanded financial independence, I decided it was time to review exactly where my company’s money was going.
So I ordered a complete vendor audit.
The results were disturbing.
Inflated invoices.
Repeated charges.
Unauthorized subcontracting.
Daniel’s father had invoiced Westbridge for equipment his business apparently never purchased.
Kyle billed my company for consulting hours during periods when his own social-media posts showed him vacationing in Cancun.
Megan charged premium prices for projects while outsourcing much of the actual work at a fraction of what she billed us.
I closed the folder.
“Daniel,” I said calmly, “you told me never to send another dollar of your money to my parents.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“So I decided not to send any more of my money to yours.”
Nobody spoke.
And that wasn’t even the most important part.
## PART 3
The following Monday, Daniel insisted on holding a family meeting at our house.
By seven that evening, everyone had arrived.
Patricia came in first, already furious.
Kyle paced beside the fireplace.
Megan sat stiffly next to her husband.
Daniel stood in the middle of the living room like a man preparing to restore order to a situation he still believed he controlled.
“I think everyone has let this situation go too far,” he announced.
For a moment, I almost admired his confidence.
He still thought this was about hurt feelings.
He still believed an apology and renewed access to my income could make everything return to normal.
“I agree,” I said.
Patricia released a dramatic sigh.
“Good.”
“So I completed the audit.”
The room immediately went quiet.
Daniel frowned.
“What audit?”
I placed four envelopes on the coffee table.
“One for each company that billed Westbridge.”
Kyle stopped pacing.
The color disappeared from Megan’s face.
Daniel stared at me.
“You investigated my family?”
“No. My company reviewed its vendors.”
Patricia jumped to her feet.
“How dare you?”
“Sit down.”
I didn’t shout.
I didn’t have to.
She slowly sat.
That seemed to frighten Daniel more than yelling would have.
I opened the first report.
“Kyle’s company overcharged Westbridge by approximately $71,400.”
Kyle immediately protested.
“That’s just an accounting mistake.”
“Then I’m sure you’ll have no trouble explaining it to our attorneys.”
He stopped talking.
I turned another page.
“Megan’s agency charged Westbridge $96,000 for work our records indicate was mostly completed by a freelancer she paid about $14,000.”
Megan’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Subcontracting is normal.”
“Not when your contract specifically forbids it.”
Then I looked at Patricia.
“Your husband’s company submitted $138,000 in equipment-purchase invoices. After checking the serial numbers and purchase records, most of that equipment could not be verified.”
Patricia turned pale.
Daniel finally spoke.
“You’re going to destroy my family because of one argument?”
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“I’m protecting myself because that argument finally showed me what was really happening.”
His expression twisted.
“I’m your husband.”
“And you threw a phone across the room because I spent six hundred dollars helping my father.”
The room fell silent.
“You told me that my money was mine and your money was yours. You made it perfectly clear that generosity was acceptable only when the money was flowing toward your relatives.”
Daniel glanced around.
