Chapter 3

The total came up to exactly 10,001 dollars. It was such a precisely calculated number. The sight of it stung me, like a thorn sticking in my heart, making it bleed.

"You guys don't have to worry about anything. What she's done is punishable in the eyes of the law. Forget about paying basically 20 times that amount in a fine. If the Health Department caught wind of this, even her home would get sealed off for investigations. There's no way she can refuse to give us the money."

Other people started sending messages in the group chat. These were all my colleagues, who'd always been so nice and friendly to me.

"If not for the sake of achieving this, I wouldn't even agree to split the grocery bill with her. I still can't believe she asks for 20 dollars each meal. A meal outside would only cost 15 dollars!"

"That's why you're the accountant, Lucy. You're such a genius when it comes to helping us make money."

"You're nothing like Jessica, who's such a schemer. Look at how much money she asked for that last meal! Obviously, her goal was to scam us. She's going to get what's coming for her soon enough!"

I never imagined that those seemingly kind colleagues would act this way behind my back.

It was even more outrageous to think that they'd been scheming against me right from the very beginning. The elaborate plot had gone off for three years, in fact.

The people in the group chat started comparing with each other, seeing who had attended these dinner gatherings the most. Some even started calculating the amount of compensation they were going to demand.

My limbs turned numb. I was heartbroken to see them happily celebrating their ill-gotten gains.

They were the ones who suggested having a meal at my house in the first place. They were the ones who proposed splitting the grocery bill between us.

I'd never cut corners when I cooked for them. I would always choose the freshest ingredients while doing my best to keep the costs down.

If they'd eaten the same meal I prepared at a restaurant, it might cost up to 100 dollars per person, but I only took about 20 dollars each.

I didn't even include a fee to cover the time and effort I'd put into cooking those meals for them.

Even when they started getting more demanding, making all kinds of requests, I did my best to fulfill them.

Diane Bates also sent a message. Not only had she attended every single one of the dinner gatherings, but she often hitched a ride in my car as well.

"Lucy, are you sure she can afford to pay us 20 times the amount in compensation? That's 200,000 dollars in total."

Lucy quickly sent a voice message, declaring with absolute certainty, "Don't worry, everyone. I've prepared very thoroughly for this."

She posted screenshots of every money transfer they'd made for each meal.

"All we need to do is insist that she made a profit—that these were all fees she charged us for selling food. Besides, I even had you all make a note in the reference section each time you made the transfers. She has no way to deny this. Even if she takes us to court, we're the ones in the right."

Only then did I recall that every time they transferred their share of the grocery expenses to me, they really did put the words "catering fee" in the reference section.

I'd assumed they were just doing it to be thoughtful, so that I wouldn't mix up the money with other transactions.

Who would've thought that this was also part of their scheme?

Once the chat had quietened down a bit, someone spoke up hesitantly. "Lucy, don't you think we're going a bit too far if we do this?

"Why don't we just ask her for double or triple the amount instead? 20 times the amount is too much. After all, we all got along quite well throughout the years."

Lucy immediately launched into a tirade. "Who do you think I'm doing this for? Isn't it for all of us? You were all very receptive to the idea when I first brought it up. Where were you then, huh? Why are you pretending to be the nice guy now? If anyone even dares to mess this up for us, don't blame me for not going easy on you!"

No one else dared to voice any objections.

Just like that, I was forced to confront the reality of having been tricked for the last three years. It seemed like a mockery of how stupid I was.

As I tapped out of the group chat, I thought about messaging Lucy to confront her about this. But in the end, I gave up that idea.

I couldn't help scrolling through the photos we'd taken during the dinner gatherings over the years. Everyone around the table seemed to be smiling so happily.

To me, cooking was a relaxing activity. It was something I relished doing very much. I felt a great sense of satisfaction when I saw other people enjoying my food.

In the past, I only ever cooked for Maisie. She said she wanted to enjoy my cooking for the rest of her life, so I started learning how to make more and more types of food.