Chapter 2 - The Breakfast Nobody Was ServedAt 7:30 the following morning, Madison shouted from downstairs:
“Emily! Coffee!”
Nobody answered.
A minute later:
“Emily!”
I walked into the dining room.
Madison looked at me.
“Oh. Where is she?”
“Sleeping.”
“Can you tell her—”
“No.”
She frowned.
“No what?”
“No coffee.”
Olivia looked up from her phone.
“What’s wrong with you?”
I placed the security tablet on the table.
My mother entered.
“Good morning.”
“Sit.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“Please.”
Something in my tone made her comply.
I played the first clip.
Emily carrying groceries.
Then another.
Emily cooking.
Another.
Madison:
Bring ice.
Another.
Olivia:
You have all day.
Another.
Mom:
A good wife doesn’t complain about taking care of her husband’s family.
Nobody spoke.
Linda eventually sighed.
“Ethan, this looks worse without context.”
“What context makes it better?”
“She lives in a beautiful house.”
I stared.
“So?”
“She doesn’t work full time anymore.”
“She stopped because her pregnancy became high-risk.”
“She has help.”
“From whom?”
Silence.
Olivia folded her arms.
“You’re making us look abusive because Emily washed some dishes.”
“Some?”
I opened a spreadsheet.
Madison laughed.
“You made a spreadsheet?”
“No.”
“My household manager did.”
That changed the mood.
I had called Patricia Gomez at six that morning.
She managed staffing and property expenses for my businesses.
The data was simple.
Our housekeeper, Maria, had worked only three days during the previous six weeks.
Why?
Linda repeatedly told her not to come.
Using my authority.
My mother had been dismissing paid staff—
then assigning the work to Emily.
I turned toward Linda.
“Why?”
She looked away.
“Maria was expensive.”
“I pay her.”
“It was unnecessary.”
“So you saved me money?”
“Yes.”
“Then where did the money go?”
My mother froze.
Olivia looked at her.
“What money?”
Patricia’s audit showed monthly household withdrawals had remained unchanged.
Maria’s wages were still being drawn.
But Maria had not received them.
Nearly $18,000 was missing.
Suddenly the problem was not only cruelty.
It was money.
My mother had used my household account to continue paying nonexistent staff expenses.
Where had the funds gone?
Linda stood.
“This conversation is over.”
“No.”
May you like
I looked at her.
“It’s beginning.”
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