Chapter 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wanted to give my mother $2,000 monthly for living expenses, but my husband Dylan rejected it as \u201cnon-essential spending.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Five years into our marriage, my husband had always controlled our family finances under the guise of his \u201cfinancial expertise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
So even though I was worth hundreds of billions, I still had to consult with him before making any transfers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I never expected him to be so resolute and cold-blooded over such a small amount.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I tried to access his computer to handle it myself, a message that popped up on the interface left me stunned:\u00a0<\/p>\n
[The $3,000,000 Swiss villa you purchased for your mother is ready for occupancy.]\u00a0<\/p>\n
So spending $2,000 on my mother was \u201cnon-essential,\u201d but spending $3,000,000 on his mother didn\u2019t make him bat an eye!\u00a0<\/p>\n
I returned to my room and pulled out a business card, dialing the number:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, is this the famous financial detective Rex? I want you to help me get back all the money that belongs to me\u2026 Yeah! Every last cent!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
J\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mom\u2019s pension got cut off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The company notice was politely worded: \u201cPolicy restructuring, unified suspension, no further disbursements starting next month.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The old lady\u2019s sixty-five now, and aside from that small pension, she had no other income.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she called me, her voice was barely above a whisper: \u201cStella honey, I know things are tough for you too. If money\u2019s tight, I\u2019ll just borrow some from my old friends\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It felt like someone had wrapped a rope around my chest and pulled tight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tough? I\u2019m the freaking CFO of StarMed Medical Group with a seven-figure salary-what\u2019s tough about that!\u00a0<\/p>\n
The real problem is my husband-the VP, and the sole manager of every single one of our bank accounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pushed through the front door at eleven PM to find the living room lit by a single cold spotlight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dylan sat behind the kitchen island, the laptop screen casting an icy glow across his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDylan,\u201d I kept my voice steady, \u201cMom\u2019s pension got cut. Starting next month, let\u2019s give her two grand for living expenses, okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His fingers paused for a second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo thousand? That\u2019s twenty-four K annually, not counting inflation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s my MOTHER.\u201d I emphasized.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He looked up with that warm yet distant smile: \u201cStella, according to our annual family budget, elder care falls under Category C expenditures-non-essential, adjustable. Company cash flow\u2019s tight this year. The budget\u2019s locked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I froze.\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:00\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater!\u00a0<\/p>\n
15.2%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two years ago, he\u2019d bundled all the Parker and Morrison family assets into an offshore trust with himself as the trustee. Every penny required\u00a0<\/p>\n
his electronic signature.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDylan, it\u2019s not like I\u2019m buying random stuff. Mom needs to eat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He closed the laptop, voice still soft but cutting like a dull blade: \u201cStella, emotions don\u2019t solve problems. Off-budget expenditures require written consent from the trust protector-that\u2019s at least a month-long process. Let\u2019s table this for now. Didn\u2019t we just buy rice, flour, and oil for her last time? Tell the old lady to be more frugal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t sleep all night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First thing the next morning, I quietly logged into mobile banking-my salary account showed a three-digit balance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All bonuses, dividends, and stock options automatically transferred monthly into \u201cStarMed-Stellar Trust Fund No. 1,\u201d and Dylan was the sole approver for any outbound payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I poured myself ice water and noticed even the ice cubes were portioned and bagged-he\u2019d applied performance management to every household expense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At lunch, I headed back to the office, avoided Dylan\u2019s floor entirely, and met my bestie Zara at the coffee shop downstairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After hearing everything, she clicked her tongue: \u201cYour husband\u2019s running your home like a public company! Don\u2019t you have any money stashed\u00a0<\/p>\n
away?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I smiled bitterly: \u201cMy equity\u2019s all in the trust too. He even holds proxy voting rights for my stock options.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara lowered her voice: \u201cThen you gotta play hardball-audit his accounts, find the loopholes, force him to give up control.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I shook my head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dylan held both CPA and CFA certifications.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The man was airtight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zara thought for a moment and slid me a business card:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is Rex Hartwell, former financial crimes detective, now does anti-money laundering consulting. He says behind every perfect budget lies imperfect desires.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2661 (0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater! by Mark Twain 20 Chapter 1\u00a0 Chapter 1\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cilantro-taste-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}