Then she hung up.
Barbara stared at her phone, stunned. Less than a week into the marriage, and the new daughter-in-law already had the nerve to dismiss her.
At Green Valley Foods, the atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed.
“It’s so much easier without Megan,” one employee whispered.
“I know,” another replied.
“Her instructions were all over the place. Now everything’s clear.”
Sarah listened to the murmurs and said nothing. She hadn’t changed people’s emotions; she had changed the structure.
The relief followed naturally.
On Friday morning at Starlight Provisions, Megan took her first client call.
“Triton Foods procurement,” a voice said briskly.
“Yes, this is Megan Miller from Starlight Provisions,” Megan replied. “I’m calling about our latest order.”
“I need you to recheck the unit price,” the client snapped. “It’s different from last time.”
Megan fumbled with her papers, pulling up the price sheet.
“The price is correct on my end.”
“What do you mean it’s correct?” The client’s voice sharpened. “It’s a dollar higher per unit than last month. Did you even look?”
“I checked,” Megan insisted, irritation creeping into her tone.
The line went dead.
Megan stared at her phone, dumbfounded.
Her manager walked over immediately.
“What was that about?”
“A client said the price was wrong,” Megan said, defensive. “But I know it was right.”
“Triton Foods is notoriously meticulous,” the manager said. “You have to be extra careful with them.”
Megan didn’t understand.
Triton had never been this difficult when she was at Green Valley.
What she never realized was the truth: Triton had always disliked dealing with Megan. They found her dismissive and sloppy. Every time there was an issue, Sarah had personally called to smooth things over.
“Ken, I’m so sorry,” Sarah would say.
“Let me reverify everything and send it over right away.”
“Well, since it’s you, Sarah,” the clients would respond, “I trust you.”
Sarah had always been the buffer.
Megan had never known.
Now, with no Sarah to protect her, Megan had to face the clients alone.
The first crack appeared, thin but unmistakable.
After that first complaint, Megan felt anxiety growing, but she refused to admit it. She was a top performer, she told herself. She would succeed here too.
On Tuesday afternoon, an urgent order came in.
A large restaurant chain needed a shipment delivered by the next morning.
“Megan, can you handle this today?” her manager asked.
“Of course,” she replied confidently.
She opened the price list and started inputting costs quickly. In her haste, she made a critical error.
She used last month’s price list.
“The order is placed,” Megan reported.
Her manager glanced at the document and his expression hardened. “Megan, are these prices correct?”
“Yes,” she said.
“I checked them.”
“Did you check this month’s price list?”
Only then did Megan realize her mistake. By the time she scrambled to open the correct file, it was too late. The order had already gone through, and the difference would cost the company nearly two thousand dollars.
“Why didn’t you do the basic checks?” her manager’s voice went icy.
“I’m sorry,” Megan said.
“I was in a hurry.”
“You check things even when you’re in a hurry,” he replied. “Is this the kind of mistake an experienced professional makes?”
“We never had issues with this at my old company,” Megan deflected, voice tight.
Her manager cut her off. “Stop talking about your old company.
This is Starlight Provisions. Make sure this never happens again.”
He turned and walked away.
Megan sat at her desk, fists clenched, face burning with humiliation.
At that same moment, Sarah was on the phone with an old client.
“Sarah, I’m calling about this month’s pricing,” the client said. “We accidentally submitted our order using last month’s prices.
Is it possible to correct it?”
“Of course,” Sarah said warmly. “I’ll take care of it right away.”
After hanging up, she instructed accounting. “Please send out a reminder with this month’s price list to all clients.
Let’s prevent confusion.”
Sarah knew what was happening at Megan’s new company. The industry was small; word traveled fast. But she didn’t interfere.
This was Megan’s mess now.
On Thursday, Barbara called Sarah again.
“Well, Sarah,” Barbara said with sarcasm, “I hear the company is doing just fine without my Megan.”
“What are you referring to?” Sarah asked.
“I asked around,” Barbara replied.
“Everyone’s working like nothing happened. I thought the business would collapse without my daughter, but you’re managing to stay afloat.”
“The company runs on systems,” Sarah said calmly, “not on a single person.”
“Systems,” Barbara repeated, voice sharp. “You’re cold enough to run things like a machine.
But you’ll regret this.”
“If I have regrets,” Sarah replied evenly, “they’ll be mine to deal with.”
She ended the call.
Barbara slammed her phone down, furious.
That weekend, Dan and Khloe argued at home.
“Honey,” Dan asked tentatively, “should we go visit my mom this weekend?”
Khloe, in the middle of doing her makeup, turned around with a look of annoyance. “Your mom’s house? No thanks.”
“We should at least say hello,” Dan insisted.
“We haven’t been there once.”
“It’s uncomfortable. I don’t want to go,” Khloe said. “Let’s go to my mom’s place instead.”
Dan sighed.
“How about next week then?”
“Not next week either,” Khloe replied. “I don’t want to go to your parents’ house. You can go by yourself.”
“How can I go by myself?” Dan’s voice rose slightly.
“You’re my wife now.”
“That’s your problem,” Khloe said dismissively. “I hate going to the in-laws.”
Dan didn’t know what else to say.
At the end of the month, Dan received his credit card statement.
Eight thousand dollars.
He stared at it, face turning white.
“Khloe,” he shouted, holding the statement up for the first time in their relationship, “what is this? What on earth did you buy?”
Khloe emerged from the bedroom, expression bored.
“What’s wrong?”
“The bill is eight thousand dollars,” Dan snapped. “What have you been doing?”
“So we’re married,” Khloe said flatly. “Your money is our money.”
“Our money?” Dan’s voice cracked.
“Does that mean you can spend it into oblivion? We’ll go bankrupt.”
“To be happy, I need to spend,” Khloe shot back, completely unabashed. “Didn’t you promise you’d let me do whatever I wanted?
Did you forget that already?”
Dan went silent.
It was too early, he told himself again, to start a war. Yet something in him shifted, subtle but irreversible, like a door he couldn’t close again.
On Tuesday, at Starlight Provisions, a regular team meeting was held. When it was Megan’s turn, she began presenting quarterly sales analysis.
As she clicked through slides, a senior manager sitting nearby frowned.
“Megan,” he said slowly, “this template looks familiar.”
He leaned in and zoomed. “And I can faintly see the Green Valley Foods logo right here.”
A watermark—faint, but visible.
Megan stammered, flustered. “Ah— I must have forgotten to delete it.”
“Forgot?” her manager asked coldly.
“Did you copy materials from your old company?”
“No,” Megan insisted, voice rising. “I made the content. I only used the template.”
Another manager’s gaze hardened.
“Did you share proprietary data when you left your last job?”
“It’s not sharing,” Megan snapped. “I made the documents, so they’re mine.”
The room turned frigid.
“Anything created at a company is company property,” her manager said. “This could be a serious issue.”
Megan’s face flushed.
She tried to defend herself, but colleagues were already looking at her with suspicion.
After the meeting, she slumped at her desk, hands shaking—not from remorse, but from panic. She truly believed those materials were hers. Only now was she realizing the foundation had never belonged to her.
The things she believed were her accomplishments had been possible because Sarah had held the structure together.
But Megan couldn’t admit it.
So she became more defensive, digging herself deeper.
While Megan’s career was imploding, Barbara pinned her hopes on Khloe.
She was convinced the new daughter-in-law would be an improvement over Sarah.
That hope didn’t last.
Saturday was Barbara’s birthday. She spent the morning cleaning, expecting her son and new daughter-in-law to arrive. But hours passed.
No one came. Barbara paced, then tried to convince herself there was a surprise coming.
Finally, she called Dan.
“Dan,” she demanded, “when is Khloe coming?”
Dan sounded hesitant. “Mom… Khloe has to go to her parents’ place today.”
“What?” Barbara’s voice rose.
“It’s my birthday.”
“She knows,” Dan said softly. “She just said the timing didn’t work out.”
Barbara’s anger flared. “A daughter-in-law who doesn’t even show up for her mother-in-law’s birthday.
