Chapter 2

Right after that, he dropped a few pictures of wilted roses into the group.

The angle on the bouquet in every shot was exactly the same as the ones I'd sent him.

Only now the roses in them had all gone limp and brown, and a couple hadn't even wilted convincingly.

You could tell at a glance he'd thrown them together with AI in a hurry, fake evidence.

I'd wondered how someone as tightfisted as Morton would ever spring for a 520-rose bouquet.

Turned out he'd wanted my roses for free, and to squeeze a payout out of me on top of it.

2.

Nothing brings the relatives out like this kind of thing.

One after another they jumped in to take Morton's side.

Sophia, this just isn't right! Your brother paid the same as any other customer, so why are you gouging your own family?

Little Morton is your brother. He's almost thirty-five, finally found himself a girlfriend, and you go and ruin it for him?

This is shameful, Sophia. Business runs on honesty!

Exactly! You have to refund this money! If you don't, who's ever going to buy flowers from you again?

How much can one flower cost? You take five thousand two hundred off your brother and hand him a bunch of dead flowers? Is all the money in that shop of yours cheated out of people like this?

Have a little conscience!

Or are you leaning on it being Valentine's Day to fleece your own brother?

Each of them piling on with a line, as if they couldn't drown me fast enough.

I rushed to explain in the group that Morton was using AI to fake evidence and frame me.

Morton switched targets and posted a voice message, working up the sympathy.

"My mom and dad were so happy I'd finally found a girlfriend. We'd agreed that after Valentine's Day I'd talk to her about getting married and starting a family!"

"And look how that turned out! The roses you sold me were dead! My girlfriend blew up at me and broke up with me, the whole marriage is off!"

"You're refunding today's flower money, and you're paying me and my parents damages for the distress! Or this isn't over!"

Morton had been single for years, and now the one relationship he'd finally scraped together was, in his telling, my fault it fell apart.

Naturally, the uncle boiled over.

He called me and let loose a stream of abuse.

"Sophia Dickerson! You little brat, are you trying to make sure the Dickerson name dies out on purpose? Who does business the way you do?"

"Open one flower shop, make a little money, and suddenly you're something? You'd cheat your own family? Buying flowers from you is doing you a favor. You should've given them to your brother for free, how do you even have the nerve to charge him?"

"Are those cheap flowers of yours made of gold? The five thousand two your brother gave you could buy out your whole shop!"

Before I could get a word in, my father's voice came from beside him.

"Take it easy, big brother. Don't work yourself up and hurt your health."

"This girl of mine just has a rotten heart. Probably learned it from her dead mother!"

"There's an old saying, better to tear down a temple than break up a marriage. Sophia's going to refund the full amount and voluntarily pay Little Morton fifty thousand in compensation. That's settled."

The uncle laughed the moment he heard fifty thousand.

"Fine. An apology with that much sincerity, and I'll let it go."

"Sophia, don't learn everything from your mother. She was no good, and an outsider by blood on top of it, while you're a Dickerson."

"Being a Dickerson means you side with your own name. That flower shop of yours right now? Your brother should have half the cut."