Blood Debt Paid In Full

Summary

At my cousin’s wedding reception, I handed over a fifteen-hundred-dollar check in a card. My new sister-in-law, Tiffany, didn't even open the envelope before she slid it back across the linen tablecloth with the tip of her manicured finger.

“Ben, honey, you’re making the big bucks in Chicago,” she said, her voice carrying just enough to kill the conversation at the head table. “Is fifteen hundred really all you could manage?”

The clink of silverware died. My parents sat next to her, staring at their plates.