Hearing Benjamin say that, my heart sank.

"So you really intend to let your sister eat and drink for free at the restaurant for the rest of her life?"

He nodded without hesitation, firm.

"That's right."

"I'm not like you, counting pennies over a few meals."

"You'd even go after my own sister's money. I don't know how I, Benjamin James, ended up with a wife as petty as you."

Before I could say anything, my mother-in-law came hurrying out from the back kitchen, where she'd been cleaning.

She'd clearly overheard our whole conversation from outside, and the second she stepped through the door she rounded on me.

"Cordelia, don't take this the wrong way, but you really are narrow-minded and far too calculating."

"Leila brings people in to eat here every day. That's her being kind, drumming up a little business for us."

"You can't even bother to thank her, and instead you're haggling with her over a few dollars of food?"

I was speechless.

"Mom, she brought seventeen groups in over two weeks, always ordered the most expensive dishes, made a scene every single time, and scared off every paying customer we had. How is that drumming up business?"

"This is her using the restaurant to buy herself goodwill, playing generous with our money, dumping every cost and every bit of pressure onto us!"

Her face darkened at once, and her voice went cold.

"That's just how favors between people work."

"If you ask me, growing up poor out in the sticks left you scared of spending a dime. You've got no vision, no sense of the bigger picture."

"You've married into the James family now, so learn from us. Be generous. Stop making us sick with those penny-pinching habits of yours."

"Our family has always been generous. We never take money from relatives!"

Benjamin chimed right in.

"Exactly. Between family it's about loyalty. I'd rather the restaurant lose a little money than charge my relatives for their meals."

"Don't ever bring this up again."

"I won't have people thinking the James family's gone so broke we're shaking down our own relatives for money."

Watching the two of them play off each other like that, I suddenly had no desire to argue.

The restaurant wasn't mine alone anyway.

Since they were all so generous, why should I stick my nose in?

I nodded calmly.

"Fine. I understand."

Seeing me stop arguing, Benjamin assumed he'd talked me around. He looked down at me, smug.

"See? You should've come around sooner."

"The one thing you never do between family is scheme. Learn a little from the way the James family carries itself, and your life will go a lot smoother."

My mother-in-law picked up the thread, sneering.

"Exactly. Otherwise, with that shortsighted country-bumpkin outlook of yours, you'll never amount to anything in this life."

The two of them went back and forth, every line belittling me while puffing up this so-called James family class of theirs.

I gave a faint smile and said nothing.

Fine. Since you're all so generous, I'll help you live up to it.

I went completely calm.

No matter how my mother-in-law and Benjamin lectured and blamed me, I just nodded and agreed with every word.

Seeing me so meek, they left the restaurant satisfied and went home, leaving me alone to clean up and close.

After a quick tidy, I quietly took out my phone and opened my family group chat.

There were a hundred and fifty people in that chat.

Not one of them was ordinary.

Back when Benjamin and I were dating, his family didn't have much, and he was especially sensitive about it.

To spare what little pride he had, I'd always hidden my family's wealth, telling him I came from an ordinary rural family with no money and no connections.

But the truth was, my family was no ordinary country family at all. We were a genuine dynasty of wealthy business people.

My father was the eldest of the Henson sons, with three younger brothers and two younger sisters beneath him.

On my mother's side, there were three older brothers and two older sisters.

Between both sides, my aunts and uncles alone numbered more than a dozen.

Add in their spouses and children, and it came to a hundred and fifty people, every one of them worth a fortune, with connections spread across the whole country.

When they learned I was going to marry Benjamin, none of them really approved.

My parents opposed it hardest of all.

They thought Benjamin could work his whole life and still never reach our heels, and they told me not to go looking for hardship I didn't need.

But I was swept up in love back then, and I wouldn't listen to anyone.

I resolutely gave up every bit of the family fortune and opened this restaurant with Benjamin.

The startup money was what the two of us had saved over the years.

I wanted to use this restaurant to prove to my parents that we could build a good life on our own effort.

So from the day the restaurant opened, I was up before dawn and working late into the night, never stopping.

I'd pinned all my hopes on this place.

But I never expected it. Because of Leila, my hopes were crumbling, piece by piece.

What chilled me more was Benjamin's attitude.

All my effort had earned me was him and his mother jabbing their fingers in my face, calling me a country hick, small-minded, always scheming.

In that moment, it suddenly became plain to me.

He and I really weren't a good match.

Since the James family cared so much about treating relatives to meals, then it was high time I gave my relatives a proper welcome too.

I opened the group chat and dropped the restaurant's location straight in.

Then I tagged everyone and got right to the point:

"This is my restaurant. Come eat whenever you're free, everyone. It's all on the house."

The moment the message went out, the quiet family chat exploded.

My uncle was first to reply:

"Wow! Cordelia opened a restaurant? We have to show up. The whole family's coming out tomorrow."

My aunt jumped in right after:

"I've been dying to find a good place to eat lately. Tomorrow I'll bring the whole household over for a proper taste!"

The cousins, one after another, all chimed in:

"We'll be there right on time tomorrow."

"Cordelia, you'd better bring out your best and priciest dishes for us."

"Right, and don't you dare wince when we eat you out of house and home."

My whole family had been raised in silk and fine food since childhood.

They always went straight for the most expensive, the best.

And that was exactly what I wanted.

I looked at the screen full of messages and smiled, satisfied:

"I'll be waiting for you at the restaurant tomorrow."

"Come hungry and eat all you want."

Early the next morning, the second I got to the restaurant my phone started buzzing nonstop.

The family chat had already blown up.

My aunt posted a photo from the airport, where she was waiting for her flight:

"Cordelia, your aunt's flying back all the way from Miami just for this meal. That's love, isn't it?"

Then my uncle sent a message:

"On my way. Brought a dozen of the company's top execs. We're all counting on your place for lunch today."

My parents said nothing in the group, but my mother messaged me privately, just three short words:

"Made up your mind?"

I stared at those words for a second or two, then wrote back:

"Yeah. I've made up my mind."

She didn't press further, only said, "Your father and I will be there at noon."

I put my phone away and looked out the restaurant's front door, calmer than I'd ever felt.

Noon came soon enough.

Benjamin and my mother-in-law strolled in right on time, ready to start greeting customers.

The moment he walked in, Benjamin reminded me:

"Leila's coming later. Don't go making an issue of her bill again."

"I, Benjamin James, run this place. I can afford to lose a little."

My mother-in-law added, looking down her nose at me:

"I know you grew up in the country, that you've never seen much of the world, and nobody ever taught you what a big picture looks like."

"But since you married up into the James family, you can put away that penny-pinching, scheming little heart of yours. Remember, no matter how much our relatives eat, we would never take a single cent."

The words had barely left her mouth when a commotion broke out at the door.

I turned to look, and smiled faintly.

The real show was about to begin.