All Chapters of My Coworkers Threw a Party at a Mansion That Wasn't Mine: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

I kept insisting the estate wasn't mine.Jessica threw a video into the chat. In it, I was in loungewear, holding a shopping bag and leading a poodle, punching in the gate code with practiced ease. Beyond the massive gate stood the multimillion-dollar oceanfront estate.The second video was grainy, shot from far away: me standing on the second-floor master bedroom balcony, stretching, looking like I'd just rolled out of bed.I racked my brain, stunned. I'd only ever been in that bedroom once.Once, while walking the dog, I'd dropped off some documents for Richard. What were the odds someone caught that on camera!Neither video was long. Half a minute total, tops.But together they painted a perfectly ordinary day in the life of a rich man's wife.Jessica sent back a curt question mark."Not your house? Then why are you walking out of the master bedroom in loungewear?"I had no way to defend myself. I really did dress casually for my weekend gig.A coworker chimed in. "You can't marry i

Saturday evening, I was asleep at home.A shrill ringtone jolted me awake. It was Jessica."Emma, why aren't you here yet?"The glee in her voice nearly pierced my eardrum. I had to hold the phone farther away."I told you, that estate isn't mine. I have no right to—"Two sharp barks came through the phone.The barking jolted me. That was Bella, Richard's dog."Jessica, where are you?" I demanded."At your estate, obviously. This dog is driving me crazy. Is there any rope in the yard? I'm going to tie her up."Before she'd even finished, Bella's yelp of pain came through the line.Nothing else mattered. I rushed out the door and grabbed a cab to the estate.On the way, I opened the estate's security feed and discovered they had forced the lock and let themselves in.Jessica had already posted a nine-photo album on Facebook, posing in a pretty dress all over the estate.My heart skipped. Unless I was mistaken, she was holding the Romanée-Conti from the cellar, worth more than $10,000 a

Charles began to stammer. "Me? Pay? What are you talking about? I never even saw the menu."He shoved Jessica, who was already out of it.She stumbled and landed on the floor."You proposed this. You ordered the food. Of course you're paying."Jessica turned to look at him, disbelief written all over her face."You praised my planning! You read Emma's proof and ignored it! Now you're pretending you knew nothing? You're the most shameless person in this house!"Jessica's shriek made Bella flinch. Richard winced and murmured soothingly to his girl.When he spoke again, his tone had turned a lot more irritable."Enough with the damn performance. The property damage alone is $1 million. Card or wire transfer?"Jessica tried to stand but had no strength left, and could only crawl forward a couple of steps.She collapsed at my feet and clutched at me as if I were a life raft. "Emma! Emma, you know him! Say something for me! Tell him to let it go... You can't just abandon me!"I jerked away a

In the days that followed, some people buckled under the weight and started paying.Others kept thrashing, trying to shift their share of the debt onto someone else.Jessica was the loudest voice in that camp.She posted her version of the entire story on the Facebook page that had made her notorious."I made the mistake of trusting the wrong person. Our intern, Emma Bennett, invited us to a party at her estate, and I believed her. It turned out she was sleeping with the owner, and she conned the entire staff into nearly $2 million in spending and damages.""Let my mistake be a warning. Don't let people like her into our workplaces again."Her page was already drawing plenty of attention, so the post instantly pulled over a hundred likes and questions.People who cared about the truth, or just wanted the gossip, flooded the comments."I've met this Emma. Never guessed she was that kind of person!"Jessica replied, "You never know what someone is really like."She wrote every line as if