“My sister-in-law demanded $30,000 for a luxury yacht trip. I sent her $60 instead—and the next morning, she and my mother-in-law were standing outside my mansion with suitcases.” / Chapter 8 / 20

Chapter 8 - The Red-Eye FlightAt 11:15 AM, my phone began vibrating continuously on the oak table.

Daniel Calling.

I let it ring three times before sliding my thumb across the screen and placing it on speaker.

"Lauren! What the hell is going on?!" Daniel's voice burst through the speaker, breathless and panicked. The background noise sounded like an airport terminal. "My mother just called me screaming from a gas station! She said you had private security throw her out on the street and that Nicole was taken away in handcuffs! Have you lost your mind?!"

I sat at the dining table, taking a slow sip of black coffee.

"Where are you, Daniel?" I asked calmly.

"I'm at LaGuardia! I booked the first flight back to O'Hare the second my mom called!" he yelled. "Lauren, answer me! Why are the police involved?! Why did you kick my family out of our house?!"

"It isn't our house, Daniel," I reminded him. "It's my house. The deed bears my name, and my name alone."

"Don't play technicalities with me right now!" he pleaded, his voice cracking with frustration. "They are my mother and sister! Whatever disagreement you had with Nicole could have waited until I got back! You embarrassed them in front of the whole neighborhood!"

"Your sister didn't just disagree with me, Daniel," I said, my tone as cold and sharp as a razor blade. "She stole four hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars from my firm. And yesterday, your mother put her hands on me."

There was a sudden, heavy silence on the line. The airport announcements in the background seemed to drown out his voice for a brief second.

"...What?" Daniel whispered.

"Your mother slapped me across the face because I refused to give Nicole thirty thousand dollars for a yacht trip in Miami," I said clearly. "And when my security team secured the estate this morning, we discovered that Nicole had been systematically transferring money out of my corporate buffer account for over a year."

"Lauren... no," Daniel stuttered, his aggressive momentum completely deflating. "There... there has to be a mistake. Nicole wouldn't... she doesn't even know how to do that..."