Chapter 4

I dug a small electric pan I had used in college out of my suitcase.

I plugged it in, washed some vegetables, then took a chunk of braised meat I had not finished yesterday and a few onions from my mini fridge and dropped them into the pot.

Before long, the rich smell of meat seeped through the crack under the tightly closed door.

The scent spread aggressively through the apartment, filling the air like an invisible hand, scratching at the nerves of everyone stuck in the living room.

I could almost picture Megan and Ryan, smelling the food while glaring helplessly at their takeout boxes.

Sure enough, Megan's mocking voice drifted in from outside. "Well, look at that. So precious now, hiding in your room just to eat meat. Afraid someone might steal it?"

"Mom, stop it," Ryan chimed in with a sneer. "She's had a baby now. She's a hero. Must be feeling pretty important."

I ignored them and focused on serving myself a good meal.

The meat was soft and tender, melting the moment it touched my tongue.

As warmth spread through my body, my tangled thoughts began to clear.

The first step of my counterattack was taking back financial control.

Not long after, I heard Henry come back, followed by his deliberately lowered voice as he spoke to Megan.

Then came a knock on my door.

"Susan, open up. We need to talk," Henry said.

I did not open the door. I asked through the wood, "About what?"

"Did you freeze my secondary card?" His voice was tight with frustration. "I just tried to buy groceries. The card wouldn't go through."

"Yes," I said after taking a slow bite of the meat. "The main card is with me. Until Ryan pays back the fifteen thousand dollars, this household is under my financial control."

"You!" he snapped. "Why do you get to make all the decisions about our money?"

"Why?" I set the plate down and walked to the door. "Because most of the money in this household is either my premarital assets or savings from our joint income.

"And because you moved fifteen thousand dollars of our shared funds without my consent and gave it to your adult brother."

Silence fell outside the door.

After a moment, Henry spoke again, his tone turning almost petulant. "Ryan doesn't have the money to pay it back. Are you trying to drive him into a corner?"

"No money?" I let out a cold laugh and pulled up the screenshots I had saved long ago. "The latest iWatch on his wrist was free, then? And those limited-edition Air Jordans that cost over a thousand dollars just fell from the sky?

"And the hundreds he spends every night at bars somehow do not count as money?"

I sent all the screenshots, along with the lawyer's business card I had consulted in advance, straight to Henry on WhatsApp.

Then, I wrote: [I've already spoken to a lawyer. He said this transfer counts as an unauthorized gift and is legally invalid since I didn't consent. I can sue to recover the money. Henry, do you really want Ryan to end up with a legal record over a debt dispute at such a young age?]

After that message, I sent one last image.

It was a screenshot from Ryan's Instagram. The background was a flashy, upscale nightclub. He had one arm around a girl I didn't recognize, a cigarette between his fingers, smiling like he was on top of the world.

The caption read: [Thanks to my brother for the massive cash gift! Living it up!]

The timestamp showed it had been posted the very night he received the transfer.

Then I sent Henry my final message: [I'll give you three days. Either you make him return the money, or I report this as fraud and take it to court. He will pay the price for your stupidity. Your choice.]

On the other end of the phone, there was a long, suffocating silence.

I could picture Henry staring at those photos, his world collapsing in real time.

He had always believed the money was for Ryan to get through an emergency.

He had no idea that his so-called emergency had turned into Ryan's party fund.

Outside the bedroom, Megan must have sensed something. She started throwing a full-blown tantrum in the living room.

She shouted, "I can't live like this anymore. Susan is trying to drive my son crazy! Henry, you useless piece of trash, are you really going to let your wife bully your mother and your brother like this? How did I end up giving birth to such a spineless son?"

There was crying, screaming, and chaos everywhere.

I calmly turned on my voice recorder again.

Then, through the door, I said softly to Henry, "I'm keeping all the evidence."

That was when Henry completely lost his voice.

When brute force didn't work, Megan and Ryan switched tactics.

Or rather, they went for something even nastier.