My cousin, John Anderson, always paid me in tens rather than in thousands.

He owned a renovation company, and my team and I always worked hard for his projects.

However, he only transferred me thirty dollars for sand and concrete that were worth three thousand dollars. Besides that, he only transferred me one thousand five hundred dollars to finance customized doors and windows worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

I did not harp on that. Instead, I bore the cost in full, as he was my cousin.

That was until his wife, Rory Anderson, scolded me in front of all the workers.

“Peter’s a bloodsucker. He never informs us whenever he buys new materials. He must have scammed a lot of money from us! I saw that he got himself a new house and a new car. I bet these are all bought with money he took from us!”

John smoked next to us and sighed, “Never mind. He’s family after all.”

I was furious when I heard that. I paid more than six hundred thousand dollars’ worth of material fees for him, and he was accusing me of stealing his money?

The next client had a mansion and wanted natural marbles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for his living room floor. John approved the request but only transferred me a thousand dollars to get it sorted out. So, I went to the brick factory located in the countryside and got a truckload of used red bricks from pigpens.

Then, I used them for the client’s flooring.

Walter Black opened the heavy doors of his mansion.

His excitement fell as he suddenly stopped in his tracks. The spacious living room’s floor that was supposed to be natural marble had dirt and pig excretion smells from the used bricks.

Walter’s expression immediately darkened.

He threw the renovation plan abruptly onto the floor. “John! Is this the natural marble that cost me one hundred thousand dollars that you promised me?”

Walter pointed at the bricks on the floor as his voice echoed in the empty living room.

John Anderson trembled from fear.

He immediately ran forward. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the entire floor covered in bricks.

He turned around abruptly and stared furiously at me.

“Peter! What did you do?! I told you to purchase imported marble, and you got me a truckload of bricks that were used for pigpens?”

John strode toward me, and the finger that was pointing at me almost poked my nose. Rory Anderson followed behind John. When she heard that, she immediately took a step forward with her arms crossed.

“Peter! I knew you were being shady!

“Mr. Black paid us a hundred thousand dollars of material fees, and you simply got a truckload of lousy bricks for it?

“Did you take the remaining money for yourself?”

Rory’s voice was piercing, and it echoed in the entire first floor of the mansion.

The workers that were working on the second floor heard the commotion. All of them stopped working to poke their heads out and observe while murmuring.

“Mr. Smith usually seems pretty honest. Why would he do such a thing?”

“A hundred thousand dollars! And he’s using used bricks. This is too unethical.”

“Mrs. Anderson’s right. He bought a house and a car not too long ago. I bet he’s taking money from the company!”

Rory seemed even more smug after hearing the workers’ gossip.

She pointed at me as she spat, “Everyone, listen to him! I believe you can tell the truth! Peter’s a bloodsucker and a traitor! John has promoted you to be a project manager because you’re family. Is this how you’re repaying our kindness?”

I stared at Rory coldly as she made a scene.

Then, I turned around to look at John.

John took out a cigarette as he stood on the side.

He took a drag and blew out smoke. Then, he put on a hurt expression.

“Peter, you’ve really let me down.

“Rory has been calling you out for a while, but I couldn’t believe it. I would have never imagined that you’d do this to Mr. Black. Never mind, you’re family. I’ll help you pay the remaining fee.”

John turned to look at Walter with a huge smile on his face.

“Mr. Black, don’t be angry. Peter’s in the wrong, but I’ll immediately get my workers to get rid of these bricks. Tomorrow, I’ll personally pick the best marble for you.”

Walter snorted, showing that he was not buying it.

“John, don’t sweet-talk me! I don’t care how you do your business with your cousin, but you have to give me an explanation today! A hundred thousand dollars’ worth of material turned into a truckload of bricks. Do you really think I’m an idiot?”

Walter was extremely furious as he yelled at John, who endured the scolding without refuting. Then, he turned around and lashed his anger out at me.

“Peter, what are you standing here for? Apologize quickly to Mr. Black and give out the money that you’ve taken!”

I looked at John’s shameless face, and I felt numb. I spent these few years working hard for his company. Every time he transferred me money, he paid me way less than due.

Sand and concrete that were worth three thousand dollars, and he only paid me thirty dollars. The customized doors and windows that were worth five hundred thousand dollars, he only transferred me one thousand five hundred dollars.

I viewed him as family, so I forked up money from my pocket to pay for materials that were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When things went wrong, he did not feel bad. Instead, he pushed the responsibility onto me.

He wanted me to be his scapegoat. I took a deep breath and suppressed my anger.

I stared into his eyes and said firmly but calmly, “John, do you really want me to pay back the differences in money?”

John was momentarily stunned before he started to avoid my gaze.

Rory immediately yelled.

“Of course! You stole money from the company! Are you actually planning to just keep it? You have to tally the account before Mr. Black and the rest of the workers today!”

I sneered. “Alright, then let’s look into the account.”

Rory heard that I agreed to her request and immediately brightened up. She pointed at me as her voice became higher.

“Let’s do that! If you can’t show me the receipt of the hundred-thousand-dollar purchase, then you’re an embezzler! I’m going to call the cops on you! And you’re going to jail!”

The workers discussed even louder on the second floor.

“It’s game over for Mr. Smith. His greed was too obvious.”

“A hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. It’ll result in a few years of jail time.”

“He seemed pretty generous recently, and he always paid for our meal. It turned out that he was just using Mr. Anderson’s money!”

The workers were gossiping in disdain, and Rory looked extremely smug.

John pretended to sigh too.

“Peter, it’s not too late to own up to your mistake. Just hand us the money. I won’t call the cops on you. We’re family after all.”

Walter crossed his arms and stared at me coldly as he waited for my explanation.

I ignored John’s and Rory’s words.

I immediately took out my phone from my pocket and clicked on my text messaging app to pull up the conversation of transaction details with John from the previous night. Then, I turned up the brightness of my phone and passed it to Walter.

“Mr. Black, have a good look at this. This is the money John transferred me last night when he requested me to purchase your imported marble.”

Walter glanced at the phone.

Then, his eyes immediately widened in disbelief.

“A thousand dollars?”

Walter immediately looked up and glared at John.

“John! You took my hundred thousand dollars, and you only transferred a thousand dollars to your subordinate to purchase imported marble?”

After he said that, everyone became quiet.

Rory’s smug expression froze.

Blood drained out of John’s face. He frantically rushed over, clearly wanting to snatch my phone. I dodged his hand and then showed my screen to the workers upstairs.

“Everyone, take a good look at this! Mr. Black wanted imported marble worth a hundred thousand dollars, but John only transferred me a thousand dollars! What can I buy with a thousand dollars? I went to every supplier, and I couldn’t even afford to buy a broken piece of marble! I had no choice but to go to the countryside bricks factory and get these bricks that were used to build pigpens!”

When the workers saw the transaction amount, they exploded.

“What? It’s really only a thousand dollars!”

“He only gave a thousand dollars for materials worth a hundred thousand dollars! This is crazy!”

“Mr. Smith had no other choice!”

“If it were me, I would’ve bought bricks too. A thousand dollars is not even enough for logistics!”

Their opinions immediately switched. They started looking at John with disgust and anger.

John started to sweat.

He stammered, “It’s a misunderstanding! It’s just a misunderstanding!

“Mr. Black, hear me out! My wife’s the one who did the transfer last night. Her eyesight is bad; that’s why she missed out on a couple of zeros!”

In order to clear his name, John threw Rory under the bus.

Rory’s eyes widened and was about to defend herself, but John glared at her and pinched her forcefully. She felt pain and had no choice but to reinforce John’s lie.

“That’s right! My eyesight’s bad; that’s why I missed out on a couple of zeros! I initially wanted to transfer a hundred thousand dollars!”

Walter sneered.

“Key in fewer zeros? Do you think I’m three years old?”

John immediately took out his phone.

“Mr. Black, don’t be angry. I’ll immediately transfer the rest of the money! I’ll do it now!”

John immediately started to key in information on his phone.

A few seconds later, my phone buzzed.

There was a notification indicating that I had received a hundred thousand dollars.

John looked up and wiped the sweat on his forehead.

“Peter, I’ve transferred you the money. Quick, get someone to take these bricks away! Go to the suppliers and get the best imported marble!”

I looked at the hundred thousand dollars in my account, then immediately transferred the amount back without hesitation.

The hundred thousand dollars went back into John’s account.

John was stunned.

“Peter, what are you doing? Are you crazy?”

I stared at him coldly.

“John, the lie that you told may have confused others, but not me. These few years, you have been giving me a lot less money. Sand that was worth three thousand dollars, you only gave me thirty dollars. Doors and windows that were worth five hundred thousand dollars, you only transferred me one thousand five hundred dollars. I don’t want the one thousand dollars you transferred me earlier. I quit.”

Rory got furious and started yelling at me, “Peter, stop accusing us! You’re the one who stole the company money, and now you want to flip the narrative? You purposely got a truckload of bricks to embarrass John. It’s obvious what you’re trying to do!”

Rory sat on the floor and started to throw a tantrum.

“We have to look into the accounts today! To look into every expense you had for the past few years! If your account’s perfect, I’ll change my last name to yours!”

John saw that Rory was trying to blow up this matter, so he stomped over furiously and grabbed Rory’s arm.

“Enough! Stop making a scene!

“Mr. Black is still here! Let’s only discuss our family matters in private!”

John lowered his voice and tried to hint at Rory to stop pushing. He knew that if the accounts were looked into, he would be the one exposed.

Alas, Rory did not take the hint.

She flung John’s hand away and stood up.

“Why would we do it in private? We have to clear it out right here right now!”