“Phase two happened at the same time,” Natty said. “Remember how I’d been chatting with Jessica as Ashley Chen for weeks?”
I nodded.
“Well, yesterday I told Jessica that I’d seen her boyfriend Richard at a restaurant with another woman. I sent her photos I’d found on Richard’s social media of him with his business partner, but I made it sound like he was cheating.”
“Why would you do that?” I asked, confused.
“Because I knew Jessica would get jealous and confront Richard,” Natty explained. “And when she did, she’d probably mention her backup plan with the married man who was giving her money.”
Libby grinned.
“Which is exactly what happened.”
“Richard got suspicious and started asking questions about this married man Jessica had been seeing. So I helped things along,” Natty continued, “by anonymously sending Richard screenshots of Jessica’s social media posts from her dates with Dad, pictures of expensive dinners, jewelry, weekend trips, all paid for with our family’s money.”
I felt a sick satisfaction imagining Jessica’s web of lies unraveling.
“Richard was furious,” Libby said. “He confronted Jessica at her office yesterday afternoon. There was a huge scene in front of all her coworkers. He called her a gold digger and a cheater, then stormed out.”
“But the best part,” Natty added with glee, “was that Jessica immediately called Dad, crying and begging him to come comfort her.”
“And Dad left work early to go to her apartment,” Libby finished, “which meant he wasn’t there when his boss found those emails in the break room.”
I was starting to see the beautiful complexity of their plan. So, Mr. Patterson discovered Brandon’s misconduct while Brandon was off consoling his mistress.
“Exactly,” both girls said together.
“But we weren’t done,” Natty said, pulling up another screen. “Phase three was the most important part.”
“The money,” I whispered.
“The money,” Libby confirmed.
While Dad was dealing with Jessica’s meltdown and his boss was discovering his emails, Natty was executing the most crucial part of our plan.
Natty’s fingers flew across the keyboard.
“I’d been monitoring the joint account Dad opened with Jessica for weeks. I knew all the login information, the security questions, everything.”
“How?” I asked.
“Dad used your maiden name as the security question answer,” Natty said with a roll of her eyes, “and Jessica’s birthday as the PIN. Men are so predictable.”
“At exactly 3:47 p.m. yesterday,” Libby said, checking her notes, “while Dad was comforting Jessica and his boss was calling an emergency meeting about employee misconduct, Natty transferred every penny from their joint account back to our family accounts.”
“Mom, you’ve been using the same password since I was 12,” Natty said gently. “And technically, as your daughters, we’re authorized users on the college fund account anyway.”
I realized my daughters had thought of everything. They’d systematically destroyed Brandon’s plan while protecting our family’s future.
“So right now,” I said slowly, “Brandon thinks he’s about to start a new life with Jessica and our money. But actually…”
“Actually,” Libby said with a smile, “his boss is preparing to fire him. His mistress is furious about her other boyfriend dumping her, and the money he stole has mysteriously vanished.”
“And he has no idea any of this is connected,” Natty added cheerfully.
I looked at my daughters with a mixture of pride and concern.
“What happens when he finds out?”
Both girls exchanged a look that made my stomach flutter with anticipation.
“That,” Libby said, “is when the real fun begins.”
I didn’t have to wait long to see the results of my daughters’ masterpiece. At 11:47 p.m. that same night, our front door slammed open with such force that it shook the entire house.
“Claire!”
