Chapter 3
The door swung open.
Linda led the charge, storming in with her relatives right behind her.
Michael brought up the rear, closing the door behind them.
They packed the living room, looking like they were here to demand answers.
"Rachel, you finally agreed to see us," Linda said with her hands on her hips, standing there like she had already won the argument. "I thought you'd be hiding forever."
I didn't bother responding. I walked straight to the couch and sat down.
My parents stood next to me like bodyguards.
"So what is this about?" I asked, keeping my voice calm.
"What is this about?" Linda laughed like I had told the funniest joke in the world.
She pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and slapped it onto the coffee table. "See for yourself. It's right here in black and white."
It was a bill she had written by hand.
She listed out 60 thousand dollars in marital gifts she'd given me.
The wedding reception racked up 70 thousand dollars in costs.
Bridal fine jewelry added another ten thousand dollars to the sum.
Professional wedding hosting services cost five thousand dollars in total.
When every single expense was tallied together, the final amount reached a staggering 150 thousand dollars.
"This is everything our family spent on the wedding," Linda said. "Now that the wedding is off, you need to pay back every single cent."
One of the relatives behind her chimed in, "That's right. The Joneses aren't going to get screwed over."
Another one said, "You have to be reasonable. If you took their money, you need to return it."
They were all ganging up on me, acting like I had taken them to the cleaners.
Michael stood off to the side and remained silent. That was as good as agreeing with them.
I looked at the bill for a moment, and then suddenly laughed.
"Mrs. Jones, you really did your math down to the last dollar, huh?" I said.
"Of course," Linda said, looking proud of herself.
"But," I went on, my voice turning cold, "it looks like you only counted what you spent. Why didn't you count what I spent?"
Linda blinked, caught off guard. "What did you spend? Wasn't it all Michael's money?"
"Is that right?"
I stood up and walked into the bedroom.
When I came back out, I was holding a notebook. I'd always had the habit of writing down every major expense.
I opened my notebook and placed it right next to her bill on the coffee table.
"Let's go through this one thing at a time," I said. "Last fall, you said the TV at home was old, so Michael asked me to buy you a new one. That was 1,900 dollars, and I paid for it.
"Last New Year's Day, you said it was hard for Irene to be studying far from home, so I gave her 3,000 dollars and bought her a new phone for 2,500 dollars.
"Throughout the two years Michael and I dated, the Jones family constantly had small expenses to cover.
"I paid for everything from monthly utilities to all kinds of social and personal gifts.
"Whenever Michael faced any kind of financial pressure, I always stepped forward and paid for everything myself.
"And about that house we were supposed to buy together? We agreed that both families would help pay for the down payment. But then you said your family didn't have the money and would only cover the renovations. I accepted that.
"For that so-called new house, I sent Michael over thirty thousand dollars to buy furniture and appliances.
"All of this is written down in my notebook, and I have all the transfer records on my phone too."
I looked up and locked eyes with Linda as her face started to turn red. "Mrs. Jones, did you count any of that?"
The living room went completely silent.
The relatives who had been running their mouths a moment ago all shut up at once.
Linda's face turned a deep shade of purple, and her lips were trembling so much that she couldn't get a word out.
Michael's face was beyond awful.
"Rachel, why do you keep track of stuff like that? We're family. Do we really need to be this petty about money?" Michael said.
"Family?" I let out a cold laugh. "The moment you took the money my parents gave me and used it for your sister's tuition without asking me first, we stopped being family.
"The moment your mom showed up at my door with a bunch of people like she was collecting a debt, we stopped being family."
My voice got louder and colder with each word. "Michael, listen up. The wedding gift was always about getting married.
"Since that's not happening anymore, I can give some of it back, but not all of it.
"As for the wedding reception, both families had guests there, so both families should split the bill. Why should I be the one paying for everything?
"And all that money I spent on you and your family over the years adds up to tens of thousands of dollars. Shouldn't you be paying me back for that too? Let's settle each thing separately and figure out what's fair."
With every word I spoke, Michael and Linda looked more and more upset.
They still thought I was the same Rachel who always gave in and bent over backwards for their family.
They couldn't have been more wrong.
Michael took a deep breath and tried to play the sympathy card. "Rachel, I know I messed up. I shouldn't have done it without talking to you, but Irene..."
"She's your sister, not mine." I cut him off. "Her future has nothing to do with me.
"If you want to be the one who pays for everything for your sister, that's your choice, but don't spend my money to do it."
Seeing that she wasn't getting anywhere by arguing, Linda started throwing a fit. "I don't care.
"My son spent his money on you, so you owe us every single cent. If you don't pay us back today, I'm not leaving."
She plopped herself down on the floor, clearly getting ready to scream and cry.
I looked at her without flinching.
"Fine, you can stay here. I'll leave," I said. "I'll see you in court."
I picked up my phone and got ready to call my lawyer.
Michael completely panicked. "Rachel, don't," he begged.
He knew that if this went to court, his family would come out looking even worse.
But as I looked at him, a bigger question suddenly hit me.
To make things easier, we had put the two-hundred-thousand-dollar down payment into a joint account with both of our names on it.
My heart dropped as I wondered if Michael had already taken it.
I pulled out my phone and opened the banking app.
My fingers were shaking a little from nerves.
I typed in my password and logged in.
The moment I saw the account balance, I felt a chill run through my entire body.
The balance was zero.