Chapter 5 - The Flying Monkeys
By the second week of January, the assault had expanded beyond my immediate family.
First came Aunt Linda, my mother’s elder sister, who called to express her "deep disappointment."
“Aunt Linda,” I said cleanly. “Did Derek tell you that he brought his children to my apartment unannounced after I explicitly said no, and threatened to leave them on my doorstep?”
A long pause hung on the line. “Well... Derek said you were being unreasonable.”
“I run a business,” I said. “Derek wouldn't give up a week of his executive job to watch my cat. Why am I expected to forfeit my income for his vacation?”
Next came Jennifer’s social media campaign. She began posting passive-aggressive quotes about "disappointing family members" and "selfish people who show their true colors," accompanied by photos of Lucas and Maya looking sad.
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Instead of engaging in a public flame war, I took screenshots of every post, saved every text message, and backed them up to a secure cloud folder. I set my social media accounts to private, blocked Jennifer and Derek, and hired an executive assistant—Elena—to screen my incoming calls.
The silence that followed was heavy, but inside that silence, I began to breathe again. Without the constant drain of family emergencies, my productivity surged. I closed two new retainer accounts worth $12,000 a month.
