The temperature seemed to drop 20° in the lavish restaurant as Morgan’s words echoed across our table.
“Oh my, Natalie is from a single-parent family. How commendable that you’ve managed to accomplish anything at all.”
My fingers clenched around my water glass as Brian’s mother continued, her voice dripping with false sympathy while her eyes remained cold.
“Being from a single-parent family, life must be quite hard. Hm. Dating someone like you would be so complicated for Brian.”
I glanced at Brian, my blind date and apparent heir to Sunrise Bank, who sat smugly beside his mother, nodding in agreement.
The restaurant’s ambient noise faded away as I watched them discuss my unfortunate background as if I weren’t sitting right across from them, as if my mother weren’t sitting right beside me, her back perfectly straight, her expression carefully controlled.
“Presumptuous for commoners to think they could marry into a family like ours,” Brian’s father, Richard, muttered, not bothering to lower his voice.
“Even if you try to bother us, it won’t hurt you much since it’s your money,” Morgan added with a dismissive wave. “Useless poor people with low backgrounds.”
As I did the final check, confirming that yes, these people had invited us here specifically to humiliate us, I asked, “You’re saying we should close our account with your bank, right?”
“Please go ahead.”
They smiled with disdain, eyes filled with contempt as they stared at us.
I decided it was time to give those who judge others by their background a taste of their own medicine.
With that thought, I smiled.
My name is Natalie. I’m 29 and a marketing executive. This is the story of how I made a family of elitists lose everything they valued.
I never expected to be ambushed like this.
The blind date with Brian had been uncomfortable enough. His condescending attitude when he learned I worked for a major corporation rather than a prestigious financial institution. His constant self-aggrandizement. His dismissive glances.
But when he suggested meeting our parents, I’d foolishly agreed, thinking it would be an easy way to end things with witnesses present.
“Maybe you were just nervous because you haven’t dated before,” Mom had suggested when I’d told her about Brian’s behavior.
“The way he spoke was weird, Mom. Like I was beneath him somehow.”
“Well, his parents will be there, right? Just say no if it doesn’t feel right. I’ll be there, too.”
I’d apologized for dragging her into this, but she’d just laughed.
“It’s okay. Besides, I’m curious about Sunrise Bank.”
If only we’d known what they’d planned.