Post-Divorce Unwanted Kid: Receipts for Every Spend Chapter 05

Post-Divorce Unwanted Kid: Receipts for Every Spend Chapter 05 Family

I sent back “lol.”

Down payment? In their dreams.

Right before the competition, Dad suddenly texted me, and his tone was weirdly gentle for once.

“Gwen, I know I was wrong. We shouldn’t have done that. This weekend’s your brother’s birthday, so come home for dinner. I’ll make your favorite pot roast.”

I stared at that text, and something twisted in my chest. Pot roast? My favorite food was ribs. The one who loved pot roast was my stepbrother.

But I texted back anyway. “Okay.”

Harrison saw my response and frowned. “Are you insane? It’s obviously a trap.”

I kept organizing my code files, and my expression stayed cold. “I know. But some debts need settling.”

If I didn’t go, they’d keep buzzing around me like flies. I needed them to understand that the current version of Gwen wasn’t the same girl who’d beg for ten-dollar meal allowances anymore.

That weekend, I went back to that so-called “home.” David’s new place-a luxury three-bedroom with top- tier finishes. The second I walked in, I saw the table loaded with food.

My stepbrother was parked on the couch playing the latest PS5, and he didn’t even look up when I walked in.

My stepmom grabbed my hand all enthusiastic. “Oh, Gwen’s home! Take a seat! Look how tall you’ve gotten!”

I pulled my hand back and gave her a polite smile. “Hi.”

David came out of the kitchen carrying a dish, wearing this fake proud-dad expression. “Gwen, try some! I made this especially for you.”

I looked at the pot roast and didn’t touch my silverware. “Dad, just tell me what you want.”

The smile froze on David’s face for a second, and then he sighed. “Gwen, you’re an adult now, you’re making money. Dad’s under a lot of pressure right now with the mortgage, car payments, and taking care of your brother…”

Here it comes.

I put down my fork and just watched him perform.

“I heard you’ve been doing projects with that boss of yours and making good money. Think you could lend Dad a hundred grand? Your brother wants to enroll in a private international school—”

“A hundred grand?” I laughed. “Dad, when I needed 25 hundred dollars for my appendix surgery, you couldn’t spare it. Now you’re asking for a hundred thousand dollars?”

“That’s different!” David’s face flushed with anger. “We didn’t have money back then! Now that you’ve got it, what’s wrong with helping out the family?”

My stepmom chimed in from the side. “That’s right, Gwen. We’re family. Blood’s thicker than water.”

“Family?”

I pulled out a stack of printed pages from my bag-screenshots from the “Stepkid Feeding Program” chat. Every single one was marked with dates and amounts.

“This is every single meal reimbursement from the last three years. Thirty-six thousand, five hundred and twenty dollars, and you rejected half of them.”

I slammed the papers on the table. “This is what you call family?”

David’s face went dark. “Why the hell are you tracking this? What, you are trying to challenge me?”

“I didn’t just track it. I recorded everything too.”

I pulled a voice recorder out of my pocket, and the red light blinked at them.

“Got everything you just said on tape. Extortion? Emotional blackmail?”

David shot up from his chair and raised his hand to slap me. “You ungrateful little brat!”

I didn’t flinch. I just stared right at him.

“You hit me, and tomorrow, this recording and these documents go straight to the media. Mr. Preston, you really want your company finding out you’re the kind of scumbag who wouldn’t even cover his daughter’s emergency surgery?”

David’s hand froze mid-air, and his whole body shook with rage.

My stepmom grabbed his arm. “David! Don’t!”

I stood up and smoothed down my shirt.

“I’m gonna skip dinner. Don’t contact me again, and if you do, I won’t hesitate to show everyone who you really are.”

I turned around and walked out.

Behind me, plates smashed against the wall, and David started screaming.

I walked out of the complex and took a deep breath of cold air. Harrison’s car was parked at the curb with the window rolled down halfway.

“All done?”

“Yeah.”

I got in and tossed him the recorder. “Make a backup, just in case.”