Chapter 8 - THERESA KNEW HE WAS LEAVING
George confirmed it.
He had overheard Theresa and Daniel arguing months earlier.
Theresa said:
“Don't rush. Natalie is paying everything. Wait until the restaurant opens.”
George thought they were discussing business timing.
Now he understood.
Daniel had planned an exit.
Theresa had advised him to stay married long enough to keep my money flowing.
I sat in Monica's office feeling nothing.
Not rage.
Not heartbreak.
Emptiness.
“So dinner wasn't about disliking me,” I said.
Monica looked up.
“It may have been both.”
Fair.
Theresa despised me and needed me.
That combination explained the cruelty.
Two days after my financial hard-stop, the first domino fell.
Theresa's utility account bounced.
Pool service suspended visits.
Landscaping paused.
Daniel's credit card went overdue.
Aaron's SUV lease payment failed.
Lauren called.
Not to apologize.
To scream.
“You got Aaron's car flagged!”
“No. Aaron failed to pay his lease.”
“You always cover it.”
“I covered two months last year.”
“Exactly!”
I laughed.
She heard herself too late.
Then Theresa called.
Her voice had changed.
No superiority.
Panic.
“The property tax payment is due tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“You canceled that too?”
“I stopped every transfer from my accounts.”
“That tax bill is sixteen thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“We don't have sixteen thousand.”
“Then use the restaurant money.”
Silence.
I smiled.
“What restaurant money, Theresa?”
She hung up.
Priya called ten minutes later.
We finally knew why.
Maison Alder's accounts were nearly empty.
Daniel invested $260,000.
Aaron supposedly added $110,000.
But that money had vanished into “development expenses.”
Consulting fees.
Design retainers.
Travel.
Wine purchasing.
And one payment:
$82,000 to MERCER FAMILY SERVICES.
“What is Mercer Family Services?”
George knew.
Theresa's private company.
She had billed her own sons’ restaurant eighty-two thousand dollars for “family hospitality consulting.”
Lauren stared at the transaction when I showed her through counsel.
“That can't be right.”
But it was.
Theresa had been secretly extracting money from the same business Daniel thought would make him independent.
May you like
The family wasn't being driven into debt by one reckless son.
Theresa had been draining everyone.
