I simply wanted Beatrice to learn that the word “family” was not a blank check to steal from me.
After several women paid their individual shares and others signed formal police acknowledgments of the debt, the dining room finally emptied.
Gavin shook his head in absolute disbelief.
“I have truly never witnessed anything like that in my entire career.”
“Neither have I, Gavin.”
Later that evening, while the kitchen crew deep-cleaned the line, the investigating detective called me.
Beatrice was claiming at the station that she had genuinely believed her son would cover the bill.
While I explained the financial history to the detective, a heavy knock sounded at my office door.
It was Lucas.
He entered wearing a wrinkled suit, pale and completely broken.
“Did you really report my mother to the police, Camilla?”
“Your mother hosted an extravagant banquet that cost over twenty-three thousand dollars and then refused to pay for it.”
Lucas began pacing across the hardwood floor.
“She is completely insane! Why on earth did you let her order so much food?”
“Because she is a grown adult who publicly announced to dozens of witnesses that she was paying for the entire party.”
Lucas gripped his hair tightly, panic filling his face.
“This is going to ruin me even further!”
I stared at him in disbelief.
He didn’t ask whether his mother was okay.
He didn’t ask how I felt after everything that happened.
He was still entirely focused on himself.
“Why would her bill ruin you, Lucas?”
“Because the police are already auditing all the bank records and money transfers!”
“You mean the money you stole from my restaurant account?”
“It was not all spent on the other woman!” he blurted out defensively.
I stayed completely still and glanced toward my desk.
The detective was still connected on speakerphone.
“Then tell me where the rest of the stolen money went, Lucas.”
Lucas dropped heavily into an armchair and covered his face.
“I was sending more than half of it directly to my mother…”
The room suddenly felt colder.
“How much did you send her?”
“More than twenty thousand dollars…”
Gavin, who was wiping down the pass outside my office, stopped dead.
“Why were you sending her my business money?”
Lucas groaned without looking at me.
