My Millionaire Brother Called Me A “Loser” And A “Parasite” At A Luxury Brunch In Front Of My Daughter. He Has No Idea I’ve Been Secretly Paying His Company’s Debts For Three Years To Keep Him Afloat. Today, I Scheduled An Emergency 3 Pm Meeting That Will End His Fantasy Life Forever.
The Audit
“No,”
he shook his head, a frantic, jerky motion.
“No. Atlas is a firm in New York. You… You’re a consultant.”
“I am a private equity investor with a portfolio of $16.8 million,”
I corrected him.
“And you are a liability I am tired of carrying.”
He looked at Jared for help.
“Tell her she’s crazy.”
“She’s the majority shareholder, Ryan,”
Jared said, his voice flat.
“She signs my checks. And yours.”
Ryan collapsed into his chair. The arrogance was draining out of him, replaced by a terrified confusion. But I wasn’t done. I nodded to Jared.
“Show him the rest.”
Jared pulled up a spreadsheet on the main monitor. It was an expense report.
“We ran a full audit this morning,”
Jared said.
“The Porsche lease expensed as client transport. The country club membership: business development. The rent on your penthouse: corporate housing. You’ve been expensing your entire life to the company, Ryan.”
Ryan stood up, slamming his hands on the table.
“I am the CEO! Those are legitimate expenses. I have to look the part.”
“You don’t own that Porsche, Ryan,”
I said, my voice cutting through his shouting.
“The company leases it. You don’t own your apartment; the company rents it. You don’t even own this suit; the company credit card paid for it.”
I leaned forward.
“You are a paper tiger. You look fierce on the outside, but you are made of debt on the inside. You built a life on money you didn’t earn, status you didn’t build, and a company you don’t own. And today, the bill is due.”
Ryan looked at the screen, then at me. He looked at Olivia, who was watching him with wide, curious eyes. He realized finally that there was no audience left to fool. The glass walls of his office weren’t displaying his power anymore; they were displaying his nakedness.
“Sophia,”
he croaked.
“We’re family.”
“Yes,”
I said.
“We are.”
The word “yet” hung in the air, heavy and threatening. Ryan looked at me, his eyes darting from the expense report to my face, searching for the sister who used to loan him money for emergencies.
“You can’t do this,”
he pleaded, his voice cracking.
“I’m your brother. Mom and Dad… they wouldn’t want this.”
“Mom and Dad left us a legacy of hard work,”
I said.
“You turned it into a Ponzi scheme of appearances.”
“I’ll pay it back,”
he said quickly.
“I’ll fix it. Just give me time. Don’t ruin me, Sophia. Please.”
I looked at him, really looked at him. He was sweating through his expensive shirt. He was pathetic. And for the first time, I felt absolutely nothing for him. No anger. No pity. Just the cold calculation of an investor cutting a loss.
“I’m not going to ruin you, Ryan,”
I said.
“I’m going to save you.”
He blinked, hope flickering in his eyes.
“You are?”
“Yes. By teaching you the one thing you’ve never learned: consequences.”
Consequences
I turned to Jared.
“Repossess the car today. Cancel the country club membership immediately. Terminate the lease on the penthouse; he has 30 days to vacate.”
Ryan’s face crumbled.
“My car? My apartment? Where am I supposed to live?”
“You can rent a studio,”
I said.
“Like a nobody.”
“Sophia, please…”
“And as for your job,”
I continued, ignoring him.
“You are no longer CEO. You are demoted to Junior Account Manager. Your salary is capped at $50,000 a year. The rest of your paycheck will be garnished to repay the embezzled funds.”
“50,000?”
he gasped.
“I can’t live on 50,000.”
“I do,”
I said.
“And I support a child.”
I stood up. I walked over to him and held out my hand.
“Keys.”
He hesitated. He looked at the Porsche key fob on the table, the symbol of everything he thought he was. Then he looked at Jared, who was already typing the termination orders. Slowly, with trembling hands, Ryan picked up the keys and dropped them into my palm. I closed my fingers around them. They were cold.
“You’re not fired, Ryan,”
I said.
“You’re going to work. You’re going to report to Jared every morning at 8:00 a.m. You’re going to learn how to read a profit and loss statement. You’re going to learn what things actually cost.”
I turned to Olivia. She was watching us, her eyes wide and serious.
“See Liv,”
I said, holding up the keys.
“A nobody can sign the paycheck. A nobody can take away the toys. Power isn’t about being loud. It’s about owning the keys.”
Ryan slumped in his chair, a man hollowed out. He had lost his car, his home, his title, and his dignity. But I hadn’t destroyed him. I had stripped away the lies so he could finally, maybe, become a real person.
“Let’s go,”
I said to Olivia.
We walked out of the boardroom, leaving Ryan alone in his glass box. The door clicked shut behind us, a final, definitive sound. As we walked through the quiet hallway, I dropped the Porsche keys into Jared’s hand.
“Sell it,”
I said.
“Put the money back into the company.”
“Understood,”
Jared said.
“Good to see you, Sophia.”
“You too, Jared.”
