3
After the charity gala incident, my life settled down for a bit.
One afternoon, I was at home, enjoying a face mask and listening to classical music, when my butler, Winston, entered the room.
“Miss Caldwell,” he said, looking a bit uncomfortable, “there are some… guests at the gate. They claim to be your relatives.”
I removed my silk eye mask, puzzled.
Relatives? My mother had some distant, impoverished relatives, but we’d lost touch years ago after my family made its fortune
“Let them in.”
A family of three walked in: a middle–aged man and woman, and a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. They were
dressed in cheap, worn–out clothes and looked completely out of place in the opulent living room.
The woman’s face split into a wide grin when she saw me. “Zoe! It’s you! I’m your great–aunt Susan! You don’t remember me? I used
to hold you when you were just a baby!”
I searched my memory but came up with nothing.
“Is there something I can help you with?” I asked, cutting straight to the point.
Her smile faltered. The man beside her, my supposed great–uncle, nudged her.
She recovered quickly, pulling the young man forward. “Well, Zoe, this is your cousin, Kevin. He just graduated from college and is
having a tough time finding a job. Your company is so big, we were wondering… could you find a spot for him?”
So, that’s what this was about.
I looked Kevin over. He had bleached blond hair, stood slumped over his phone with an air of profound boredom, and generally
looked like a walking case of teenage angst.
“Find a spot for him?” I asked. “What was his major?”
“He… he studied computer science,” Susan stammered.
“Can he code? What projects has he worked on? What were his grades?”
My questions seemed to stump her. She looked helplessly at her son.
Kevin finally looked up from his phone, annoyed. “Mom, why are you telling her all that? Her family’s loaded. Can’t she just give me
a cushy job? A comfy manager role? Something that pays, say, twenty, thirty grand a month? Is that so hard?”
I had to stop myself from laughing. The sheer entitlement was breathtaking. You’d think he owned the Caldwell Corporation.
Susan smacked his arm. “Kevin! Mind your manners!” Then, she turned back to me, smiling apologetically. “Don’t mind him, Zoe. He‘
s just a kid. He’s not picky, any job will do, as long as it’s not too stressful.”
“We don’t hire freeloaders,” I said, shutting her down completely. “Our HR department has a hiring process. If he wants a job, he can
submit his resume and go through the interviews like everyone else. If he passes, he’s in. If not, there’s nothing I can do.”
All three of their faces fell.
“Zoe, you can’t talk like that!” my great–uncle finally spoke up, his tone preachy. “We’re family. You’re successful now, isn’t it your duty to help us out? You can’t forget where you came from!”
(Forget where I came from?” I looked at him. “I don’t recall you helping me when I was in need. Family is about mutual support, not
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Chapter 2
about one person making it big so the rest can latch on like leeches.”
“How can you say that! We’re not like that!” Susan cried, getting agitated. “Our Kevin is brilliant! It would be an insult to make him
interview with your regular employees!”
“Brilliant?” I turned to Kevin. “In what way are you brilliant?”
Kevin pocketed his phone and stuck his chin out. “My… my mom says I’m smart!”
I almost choked.
“Alright,” I nodded. “If he’s so brilliant, he certainly doesn’t need to rely on connections to get a job. The front door is that way. Hum-
an Resources is to the left. Don’t let me keep you.”
“You!” My great–uncle pointed a shaking finger at me. “You are a cold, heartless child! We came all this way, and you won’t even
offer us a glass of water before throwing us out?”
“That’s right,” admitted cheerfully. “You’re not welcome here.”
I picked up my phone to call security.
Suddenly, Susan plopped down on the marble floor and began to wail.
“Oh, the injustice! My niece is rich and famous, and now she’s disowning her poor family! We can’t go on like this!” She slapped her
thighs for emphasis, her cries echoing through the hall.
Kevin joined in. “Exactly! The rich are all the same! Living in a mansion while we starve!”
I watched the ridiculous scene unfold, my patience wearing thin.
Instead of calling security, I called Laura.
“Laura, bring a few people down to the living room. And a credit card machine.”
Hearing me on the phone, they seemed to think I was caving, and their wails subsided a bit.
A few minutes later, Laura arrived with two security guards and someone from accounting.
“Miss Caldwell.”
I gestured to my great–aunt, who was still sprawled on the floor.
“She says she can’t go on. I need you to calculate the cost of living for one person until the age of eighty.”
The accountant pulled out a calculator and his fingers flew across the keys.
“Based on the current cost of living in this city and factoring in inflation, for one person to live from now until age eighty, it would
cost approximately… two point three million dollars.”
“Good,” I nodded, looking at the family. “You said I don’t care if you live or die. Fine. I’ll give you the money.”
They stared at me, dumbfounded.
This two point three million is for Great–Aunt Susan’s retirement,” I said, then turned to her husband. “Do you want some too? If so, we can add it to the bill.”
His eyes lit up “Yes! Yes!”
“Alright.” I had the accountant run the numbers again.
“And for your son,” I said, looking at Kevin. “I won’t give you a job. Instead, I’ll give you one million dollars as a startup fund. Whether you succeed or fail is up to you ”
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Chapter 2
Kevin was too stunned to do anything but nod.
“The total is…” The accountant announced the final sum.
“Charge it.” I handed over my black card. “Pin is eight, six times.”
The transaction went through.
The family of three stared at the card, still in disbelief.
“You have your money,” I said slowly, watching them. “But I have one condition.”
“What condition?” Susan asked eagerly.
“You have to sign an agreement.” I had Laura produce a document. “A familial severance agreement. As of today, the Caldwell fam- ily and yours will have no further connection. Your lives, your fortunes, your deaths–they have nothing to do with us. And likewise, you will have no say in our affairs.”
Their smiles vanished.
“But… we can’t do that! We’re family!”
“You wanted money, and I gave it to you,” I said, shrugging. “What, you want the money and the family title so you can come back for more later? The world doesn’t work that way.”
They exchanged glances.
In the end, the lure of the money was too strong. They signed the papers and added their thumbprints.
I watched them leave, giddy with their newfound wealth, without so much as a word of thanks.
Laura looked indignant. “Miss Caldwell, are you just going to let them get away with that?”
“What’s the alternative?” I settled back onto the sofa and reapplied my face mask. “Argue with them? Fight them? That’s beneath me. Any problem that can be solved with money isn’t really a problem. A few million for a lifetime of peace? That’s a bargain.”
Besides, I thought, glancing at the severance agreement, I smiled.
A guy like Kevin, with a million dollars in his pocket? He’d burn through it in a year.
Then they’d all find out.
Just how hot the money gave them could burn.
