Deal With My Best Friend

In Debt

I smiled, standing on my feet, and hugged her tightly.

I gave my girls a subtle signal, and they quickly understood, reading my cues and rushing to assist their maid by grabbing all the bags, unstrapping the baby's car seat, and carefully carrying the sleeping baby.

"Sarah, how are you?" I asked, giving her a tight hug.

She chuckled, hugging me back tightly.

"Oh, sweetie. We missed you so much at the party last night. Calvin said you weren't feeling well, so I took the initiative to bring you a few supplements," she says as she takes a red box from her son-in-law's hand, brings it over with a smile, then takes my hand and sits me next to her on the sofa.

'Open it," she says joyfully.

She had brought a series of vitamin supplements and precious herbal remedies.

"I had these imported all the way from Oaxaca, Mexico, just for you. They are incredibly potent, so make sure you read the instructions carefully. Josie, be sure to prepare them for her every day, without a miss." She smiles at Josie, making Josie smile, and nods in agreement.

"Oh, Mom. You seriously spoil me too much." I say smiling.

"Nonsense. It's the least I can do for my favorite daughter-in-law."

"Honestly, Mom, Eliana doesn't require all of this; my brother can simply purchase her supplements. You should have given them to me instead. I just gave birth and need those supplements more than she does," Mercedes states irritably, rolling her eyes, looking away, and crossing her arms in frustration.

Mercedes comments, with a condescending smile and excessive confidence, "Besides, she and Calvin have been together for five years, yet they still haven't been able to get pregnant. Who knows if she'll ever have a child? She's useless."

"Mercedes! That's enough... You already have plenty of supplements. And don't think for a second that I haven't realized you've been spending so much recently that your room resembles a hoarder's cave, leaving hardly any space to move." Sarah says, which explains why I've been receiving large expense alerts lately.

"I'm surprised the baby's cradle even fits in that room," Sarah adds, making Mercedes roll her eyes and crossing her hands in irritation.

Too bad, because I was tired of supporting this girl and her husband.

Let's see how they manage their lavish life without my money to pay for their greed from now on.

"Oh, Mercedes, that reminds me," I said, feeling a bit smug as I crossed my hands, looking at her with head held high.

"I know you just had your baby, so you had a great deal of expenses, but... I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel the cards I lent you and your husband."I said, as I raised a brow.

I had had enough of supporting her and her husband while they still looked down on me.

If they wanted to keep freeloading off someone, they'd just have to do it with Calvin's money, not mine.

"What? What cards?" Calvin asked from behind me, making me turn.

Mercedes' face pales as she sees her brother walking into the living room.

Calvin had no idea I was supporting his little sister, nor that I had given her and her husband cards with no spending limit.

"Nothing. Don't listen to her. She's... she's talking nonsense." Mercedes says, sounding nervous.

"Darling, what is she talking about?" Calvin asks, trying to kiss me on my forehead, but I pull away, raising concern in his mom, who says nothing, but her face said it all.

"I gave Mercedes a set of cards to borrow money while her husband was jobless, a little over a year ago. But I just can't let them borrow any more money, it's taken a drastic toll on my account. I'm afraid they'll be so in debt to me that even if they gave me their shares from the Calvin Group to pay back everything they owe, it still wouldn't cover half of the expenses they've charged to my account." I say, making her eyes widen in concern.

"Borrow? But you said-"

"Well, you certainly didn't expect me to give you all that money for free, now did you, darling? What kind of sister-in-law would I be if I gave you the easy way out? I know you're young, Mercedes, but if you're old enough to get married and have a baby, you and your husband should be responsible enough and look for ways to earn money. You and your husband need to start taking real responsibility for your actions. Nothing is free in this life, Mercedes. You need to learn to work hard for what you have." I said, making her angrier.

"You-"

"Now now... Eliana is right, Mercedes. Had I known you were freeloading off your sister-in-law. My god, Mercedes. Shame on you. Shame on both of you," her mom says, making Mercedes look at me angrily.

Damn... if looks could kill.

"Honestly, Eliana. There's nothing wrong with you giving your sister-in-law a little bit of money. You spend all of your husband's money and don't work either. The least you could do is share a bit of your... wealth." Kylie says as she walks into the room, making my blood boil.

"You... what is she doing here?" Sarah asks, pointing at her angrily, making Calvin nervous.

"Kylie... you're here," Mercedes says, going over and hugging her with a smile.

"What the hell is she doing here? This is not your home or your workplace. Calvin, what the hell is she doing here?"

"Mom, relax, Kylie was just leaving," he says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Mrs. Franco, I didn't mean to intrude. Last night, I was so tired that Calvin let me sleep here, that's all."

"You let her sleep here? In your home?" Sarah asks, looking at Calvin in shock.

"And you let it happen?" she looks at me in disbelief.

"Well, she wasn't home, God knows where Eliana went, but she didn't come home until like four this morning," Kylie adds, looking at me with a smirk.

"What? What exactly is going on here?"

Everything felt like it was getting out of hand. But it didn't matter anymore.

I was ready to call it quits and get out of this hellhole. They can do as they want, because soon, Calvin and I will have nothing to do with each other.

"Shut up. No one asked you." Sarah scolds Kylie, making her gasp in shock.

"Calvin!" she whines, tugging on Calvin's arm, making Calvin grunt in annoyance.

"It's true, Mom. I was too overwhelmed last night. I felt suffocated in here, so I went and took care of a few pieces of paperwork on a project I started working on with my friend Shannon." I said, as I took her hand in mine.

She looked at me with concern, sighed, closed her eyes, and smacked her teeth as she gave Calvin a stern glare.

"Mother... I know you worry about me, but I can assure you that I am not out doing anything indecent.