Chapter 3 - My Quota Is ZeroTen minutes later, my office door flew open without a knock. It wasn't security. It wasn't the CEO. It was my mother.
She looked frantic and disheveled, her hair messy, designer handbag clutched against her side, eyes wide with disbelief. Somehow, she had slipped past lobby security by following a delivery courier into the building.
"How could you do this?" she shrieked, her voice echoing down the executive hallway as a couple of junior vice presidents froze in the corridor outside. "They arrested Marcus! They put handcuffs on your own brother over some stupid bank paperwork! Have you lost your absolute mind?"
I didn't flinch. I slowly turned my chair toward the woman who had spent thirty years teaching me that my worth depended on how much I could sacrifice for the brother she had chosen to protect from every consequence.
"I didn't arrest him, Mom," I said steadily, my voice completely devoid of emotion. "The state of Illinois did. Stealing eighty thousand dollars using forged corporate authorization forms isn't a family disagreement. It's grand larceny and wire fraud."
She rushed toward my desk and slammed both hands against it as tears streamed down her face. "We are your family! Families stick together no matter what! You can drop the charges right now if you call your lawyers. Tell them it was a misunderstanding!"
"A misunderstanding?"
I stood slowly. "When Marcus drained my college savings account at twenty-two, you called it a misunderstanding. When he crashed my first car and walked away without an apology, you called it a mistake. When you forged my signature on credit applications last month, you called it family support. Well, my quota for misunderstandings is officially zero."
Before she could launch into another insult, two building security guards entered. They approached carefully but firmly.
"Ma'am, you need to leave the premises immediately, or we will be forced to add trespassing charges to your file," the head guard instructed coldly.
My mother continued crying and shouting as security escorted her from the office. I watched her disappear down the hallway. And for the first time, I felt something loosen inside me.
May you like
For years, my family had attached my value to usefulness. If I paid bills, I was a good daughter. If I helped Marcus, I was loyal. If I kept my accomplishments quiet, I was considerate. If I refused, I was selfish.
Those rules had controlled me only because I kept obeying them. Now I wasn't.
