I rushed to get her out the door.
Only after she left did I sit down and turn to my son. "What does she need that kind of money for?"
Jude was quiet for a long time before he finally spoke. "Her brother's getting married. The down payment on the house and the wedding gift aren't enough. She wants us to chip in."
I frowned.
Melissa came from a rural family. How could a house and wedding gift possibly cost three million dollars?
Besides, this wasn't the first time.
Before, she'd asked for eight hundred thousand, claiming her parents needed medical treatment.
Then fifty thousand for renovating the family home back in her hometown.
Thirty thousand for her brother's new car.
All told, it added up to nearly two million.
Every time I hesitated, Melissa would say the same thing:
"Mom, we're family. Why be so stingy? Worst case, think of it as a loan. My brother will pay it back later."
But she never mentioned repayment again.
I sighed.
"Amber was right. There have to be limits, or her appetite will only grow."
"But this is between you and your wife. It's not my place to interfere too much. Handle it however you see fit."
Jude nodded.
After two weeks of back and forth, we settled on one million.
When Melissa came back with Noah, her face was longer than a mule's.
The moment she saw me, she looked at me like I owed her eight million dollars, nostrils flared, eyes full of contempt.
I heard she'd originally refused to budge from three million. But after two weeks at her parents' house, with her brother and his fiancée giving her the cold shoulder every single day, she couldn't take it anymore and had no choice but to come home.
After she returned, though, Jude's mood only got worse.
He used to come home from work right on time every day. Now it was late nights and business dinners, one after another. On the rare occasion he came home early, he reeked of alcohol and went straight to the guest room.
He wouldn't even spare a glance at his own son.
Melissa, for her part, acted like she couldn't care less.
I found it strange.
Melissa had gotten pregnant before the wedding, and Jude had been the one who'd insisted on marrying her, no matter what anyone said. The two of them had been inseparable, sweet as honey. How had they grown this cold after barely a year of marriage?
It didn't add up.
But it was their business, and it wasn't my place to pry.
Then, a few days later, everything went sideways again.
I was in the middle of a meeting at the office when my phone started buzzing nonstop. I glanced at the screen. It was Annabel Lambert, our housekeeper.
My stomach dropped. I answered immediately.
"Mrs. Gilbert, something terrible happened! Amber's been attacked. You need to get to the hospital, now!"
My mind went blank.
I abandoned a roomful of people and ran.
When I reached the emergency room and saw my daughter, my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Stitches lined her forehead. Her clothes were soaked in blood. A nurse was still wrapping bandages, and the tray beside her was piled high with bloodied gauze.
Melissa stood in the corner, guilt written all over her face.
The moment Amber saw me, tears streamed down her cheeks. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.
The nurse explained that the shock had been too severe. She'd temporarily lost her voice. A few days of rest and it would come back.
I was trembling with rage. "Who did this?"
No one said a word.
I turned to Annabel. "You. Talk."
Annabel glanced at Melissa, clenched her jaw, and spoke.
"Ma'am, here's what happened. Amber's apartment was finished with renovations. She was planning to move in today. But when she opened the door, someone was already living there."
"Melissa hired a locksmith, changed the locks, and gave the place to her brother as a wedding gift. The bed was already made and everything."
"Amber was furious and tried to reason with her. Melissa said that everything belonging to the Gilbert family would eventually go to her son, so she had every right to decide what happened to it."
"And that's not all. A few days ago, someone filed a complaint about Amber, claiming she'd had inappropriate relationships with men during college. They said her civil service appointment might need to be re-examined. Amber had someone look into it and found out Melissa was the one who'd paid people to spread those lies."
