Chapter 5 - Stars and Silver Oak Leaves
Julian Vance slowly pulled his arm away from Lauren’s desperate grasp.
His eyes dropped from Lauren’s pale, stricken face down to the silk dress she was wearing.
"You told me your father paid for that dress from his trust fund," Julian said, his voice flat, devoid of the affection he had displayed an hour earlier.
"You told me your family had an open account at the boutique on Madison Avenue."
Lauren’s lips trembled, but no words came out.
Her polished, aristocratic veneer was cracking like cheap porcelain under a sledgehammer.
Arthur Vance leaned forward, his heavy, ringed fingers pulling my tablet closer to his plate.
He did not look at my parents; he looked directly at the financial statements displayed on the screen.
Arthur was a forensic businessman who had built an industrial empire; he knew how to read bank records faster than most lawyers.
His eyes scanned the wire transfers, the routing numbers, and the corresponding account names.
Every single transaction came from my military savings account, my combat hazard pay, and my personal investment dividends.
Every single outgoing payment ended up in Richard Monroe’s commercial accounts or Catherine Monroe’s personal shopping lines.
"My God," Arthur Vance murmured, looking up from the screen with profound disgust etched into the deep lines of his face.
"Richard, you haven't had a solvent business quarter in three years."
"You’ve been floating your entire lifestyle on your daughter’s military paychecks."
"Arthur, please, let me explain!" Richard pleaded, half-rising from his chair with his hands outstretched.
"It was a short-term cash flow problem! Defense contracting cycles are notoriously slow! Harper was merely investing in the family enterprise!"
"Investing?" Nora Whitaker cut in, her voice dripping with pure venom.
"Major Monroe doesn't invest in sinking ships, Richard."
"She bails out drowning fools who don't have the decency to say thank you."
Nora turned her attention back to Arthur Vance, ignoring my father as if he were an annoying fly buzzing against a windowpane.
"Arthur, do you know what Harper’s actual title is at Fort Belvoir?" Nora asked.
Arthur shook his head slowly, his eyes still fixed on the bank records.
"She is the Chief of Strategic Acquisitions for the Defense Logistics Agency," Nora said, her tone brimming with unyielding professional respect.
"Last month, she concluded negotiations on the multi-theater maritime refueling initiative."
"A four-hundred-and-eighty-million-dollar framework involving four sovereign allies and six global shipping conglomerates."
"She received a personal commendation from the Secretary of Defense two weeks ago."
"Next month, she is being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ahead of her peers, making her one of the youngest officers to hold that rank in the history of the procurement corps."
Nora Whitaker leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, looking down the table at Catherine Monroe.
"And her mother thinks she’s a janitor."
"Her mother tells people she picks up garbage."
A suffocating stillness gripped the banquet hall.
Catherine looked as though she had been struck across the mouth with an iron bar.
Her cheeks were flushed a mottled, ugly red, her eyes darting between Arthur Vance, Nora Whitaker, and the tablet on the table.
"Harper," Catherine whispered, her voice shaking with a terrifying mixture of shame and fury.
"How could you do this to us? In front of the Vances?"
"We are your parents! We gave you life!"
"How dare you bring our private financial matters into a celebratory dinner?!"
"Because you brought my dignity into it first, Mother," I replied, my voice steady, cool, and completely devoid of the hurt that used to live there.
"You sat at this table, eating food bought with my money, drinking wine paid for by my credit, and told twenty-two people that I was dirt beneath your feet."
"You wanted to show the Vance family what a successful, refined household the Monroes are."
"I simply decided to show them the entire picture."
"I showed them who pays the bills, who does the work, and who has been carrying the dead weight of this family on her back for a decade."
Lauren suddenly burst into hysterics, burying her face in her manicured hands.
"You ruined my life!" Lauren wailed, her shoulders shaking violently.
"You ruined my engagement! You’ve always hated me, Harper! You’ve always wanted to destroy my happiness because you’re completely alone!"
"Nobody loves you! Nobody will ever marry you! You have nothing but your stupid uniforms and your pathetic little rules!"
"Lauren, be quiet!" Julian Vance snapped, his voice sharp as a whip.
It was the first time Julian had ever raised his voice at her.
Lauren froze, her tear-stained face lifting from her hands in shock.
Julian was looking at her not with love, but with total revulsion.
"Is this who you really are?" Julian asked, shaking his head slowly.
"The girl who told me she was the creative director of her family’s charitable foundation?"
"The girl who claimed she personally oversaw the preservation of the family estate?"
"You didn't preserve anything."
"You’ve been living like an entitled parasite off your sister’s military service."
Julian turned to his father, his voice hollow.
May you like
"Dad, get the cars."
"We are leaving."
