Page 94 of The Misfit

What’s your game, Mother?

I dig deeper, fingers dancing across keys while lines of code reflect back at me. The transfer has Katherine Sterling’s digital fingerprints all over it—precise, calculated, and designed to look like a standard business transaction.

But I know better.

I know my mother.

And I know this has something to do with me.

With Salem.

With us.

My jaw clenches as the pieces start clicking together. Charlotte’s sudden appearances at every event. My mother’s increased pressure aboutsuitable matches.This hidden payment looks suspiciously like a down payment on my future.

“Game on, Mother.”

Time to show her she’s not the only one who can play with family money.

The deeper I dig into the transfer details, the clearer the pattern becomes. Mother’s moved money before—usually to pressure board members or smooth over family scandals. No doubt this transfer comes with its own steaming pile of bullshit. The only difference is, this is personal.

“Let’s see what else you’ve been up to, Charlotte,” I mutter, pulling up her account history.

Her recent purchases paint me a very vivid picture: wedding magazines, country club memberships, appointments at the same society places my mother frequents.

All the pieces start to fall into place. She’s being groomed, for something … no, by someone, for their own personal agenda.

“Fuck.” The curse echoes in the quietness of my apartment. “What the fuck, Mother? You’re actually trying to buy me a wife?”

The sheer audacity of it would be impressive if it wasn’t so infuriating. Five million dollars to the Henderson family, most likely a down payment on some arranged marriage bullshit. Classic Katherine Sterling move—solving problems with money and manipulation.

My fingers hover over the keyboard as an idea forms. A terrible, wonderful, absolutely reckless idea.

“You want to play with money, Mother?” A grin spreads across my face as I start typing. “Then we will play.”

It takes exactly three minutes to set up the transfer. Child’s play really—I’ve been circumventing Sterling Banking security since I was a teenager. The amount matches Charlotte’s payment down to the cent.

Destination: Salem Masters’s checking account.

“Consider it digital karma,” I speak to my empty apartment, executing the transfer with a flourish. The money disappears from one of the family’s brokerage accounts. One I know my mother has notifications set up for.

Five million dollars.

The same amount she gave Charlotte now sits in my girlfriend’s bank account. Is this petty behavior? Logically yes. It’s exactly the kind of impulsive behavior my mother scolds me for, and it will most assuredly blow up in my face at some point, but it doesn’t matter. Not when the retribution feels this good.

Let Mother figure out how to explain this one.

Let her try to buy my future when I’m redistributing her wealth.

Let her?—

My apartment door bursts open, and I damn near topple out of my chair.

“Lee Sterling!” Salem stands there, face flushed, silk gloves clenched at her sides. “Why is there five million dollars in my bank account?”

Well. That was faster than expected.

“Explain yourself, now. Before we have a really big problem. Bigger than the problem we currently have. How did you hack into my bank account?” Salem’s voice rises with each word as she storms into my apartment. “And the Sterling bank? Are you insane?”

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