Mi suegra apareció en mi restaurante con 38 amigos y anunció: “Ordenen las cosas más caras. Hoy estoy tratando a todos”, aunque sabía que no tenía intención de pagar. En lugar de echarlos, miré al gerente y le dije: “Sírveles todo”. Tres horas más tarde, cuando vio el billete de $ 23,289 y la carpeta que puse sobre la mesa, dejó de sonreír.

“Then tell me where the rest of the stolen money went, Lucas.”

Lucas slumped heavily into an armchair, covering his face with his hands.

“I was sending more than half of it directly to my mother…”

I felt the temperature in the room drop instantly.

“How much did you send her?”

“More than twenty thousand dollars…”

Gavin, who was wiping down the pass outside my office, stopped dead in his tracks.

“Why were you sending her my business money?”

Lucas groaned, refusing to look me in the eye.

“For designer bags, expensive clothes, luxury trips, and hosting fancy lunches for her social friends! She kept saying that since your restaurant was making so much money, it was absurd that she had to live like an ordinary woman.”

“Did she know where that money was coming from?”

Lucas took a long time to answer.

“Yes…”

“And did she know about your mistress the entire time?”