Chapter 6
Under the photo was a voice message from Olivia.
"She caused a scene in the lobby for over twenty minutes, saying you ditched your husband and mother, and even threatened to get the company to cancel your expat posting. Security already kicked her out, but she recorded a video and might upload it online."
I replied, "Please back up the lobby surveillance footage, especially the part where she accuses me of stealing money."
Half an hour later, Margaret went ahead and dropped the video in the Harrington Family Group Chat.
She sat right outside the company entrance, wiping her tears, her gold bracelet practically flashing for everyone to see.
"My daughter-in-law made her money and just ditched the family. She won't pay the mortgage, doesn't care about the bills, and even took all our savings overseas. Edward's too soft to let me speak up, but honestly, I really can't take it anymore."
The relatives jumped in to back her up.
"A daughter-in-law like that? She needs to go."
"Send a woman abroad and she goes off the rails."
"Make her give back the money before you divorce her."
I didn't bother explaining. I just dropped the family account transaction history right into the group chat.
600,000 dollars came in, and 600,000 dollars was transferred straight to Margaret's account. Just twenty-seven seconds apart.
Then I posted three years' worth of mortgage, property fees, utilities, and renovation expenses.
The last one was a screenshot of her sitting outside the company, wearing new jewelry and playing the victim.
The group chat, which had been buzzing just moments ago, went dead silent for a full five minutes.
Edward's uncle, Daniel, was the first to speak up.
"Margaret, is Edward's salary really all with you?" he asked.
Margaret quickly deleted the video.
Edward messaged me privately.
"You shouldn't air our family's dirty laundry. Why did you drop the transaction history in the group chat?" he said.
"Wasn't it your mom who started airing it first?" I shot back.
"She's old, just got confused. Are you really going to argue with an old woman?"
"Calling me a thief for over 300,000 dollars isn't just being confused."
He didn't respond.
The next day, the official demo kicked off.
Before the demo started, we shut down the hidden interface and replaced all the risky modules.
Once the production line was up and running, the response time on the screen dropped from twelve seconds to just 2.1 seconds. Not a single bit of data was lost for three hours straight.
Henry signed the stage acceptance certificate right then and there.
The remaining payments were resumed, and the project delay responsibilities were reassessed.
For the first time, the Rosenheim Project Team actually applauded me.
Carl walked over with a cup of coffee.
"I take back what I said on the first day. You don't just understand the client—you know how to get a group of people who were about to give up back to work," he said.
I took the acceptance certificate.
"The project isn't over yet," I said.
"But the hardest part is behind us."
That night, the company headquarters sent out an official email.
In recognition of the project's progress exceeding expectations, I was appointed as the interim lead for the Rosenheim Initiative, with independent signing authority. My expat allowance was increased by 30%, with an additional performance bonus.
I saved the email to my archive and didn't post about it on social media.
Meanwhile, Richard told me that the domestic company involved with the hidden interface had been put under investigation. Even though the registered phone number was Edward's, they still needed to confirm if he was actually involved.
Just as I was about to reply, James called me.
"Olivia went to the bank today. After the mortgage went overdue, she pretended she wanted to pay off the mortgage early to get the records, but the bank wouldn't hand them over."
"And then?" I asked.
"She found a real estate agent. She's about to list the house for sale."
I wasn't surprised.
The house was in her name, so she had every right to sell it.
But there was still a mortgage on it, and the value increase over the past three years was nowhere near enough to fill the hole left by her so-called investments.
James went on, "I found out something else. The 600,000 dollars she took never went into any real investment. It was all dumped into a High-Yield Investment Platform. And as of yesterday, you can't withdraw a cent from it."
This time, I froze mid-action.
"How much did she lose?"
"From what we can confirm, counting Edward's salary for the past two years and the latest transfer, the damage is at least 500,000 dollars."
There was a knock at the door.
At the same time, Edward sent me a bank collection notice.
He only asked me one question.
[Do you still have the house you owned before we got married?]