After Giving My In-Laws Million-Dollar Jewelry, I Chose Divorce

For my in-laws' golden wedding anniversary, I gave them a piece of custom jewelry worth a million dollars.

My father-in-law took it with a big smile, going on and on about how beautiful it was.

Every relative in the room looked at me with envy, saying they wished they had a daughter-in-law like me too.

But my mother-in-law didn't say a word. She was even wiping away tears on the sly.

I thought she was just overwhelmed, so I smiled and told her there would be even better gifts to come.

Who knew she would suddenly break into loud sobs right there:

"If only my baby boy were here, he and his wife would cook us a hot meal, not put on this kind of empty show!"

"You just want to look good, don't you! Dragging us two old people into playing this dutiful-daughter-in-law act! You just want everyone to praise you for being better than his little brother, isn't that it!"

My face went cold in an instant. I let out a bitter laugh. "When you were spending my money, how come you never thought about your youngest son? Now you suddenly remember him?"

My father-in-law, cheerful just a moment ago, slipped the jeweled ring off his finger and sat down to one side without a word.

I looked at the anniversary party I'd spent a small fortune arranging, the guests below murmuring among themselves, and suddenly the whole thing struck me as absurd.

Then, from behind me, came a scream that could tear your heart out:

"Mom!"

A young man in ragged clothes came bursting in, and the moment he saw my in-laws he threw himself to the floor, then scrambled toward them, snot and tears everywhere.

When I got a clear look at his face, fury shot through me and my eyes went wide.

"What are you doing here? Who let you come? Where do you get the nerve!"

My voice came out hysterical.

Everyone else in the room turned to look, studying the man's face closely.

They couldn't help letting out gasps. "Isn't that the youngest son? How is he here? Wasn't he locked up?"

I ignored him, found the security guards, and moved to have him dragged out. But my mother-in-law seized her chance, let out a wail, and threw herself in front of him, shielding him behind her, facing off against the guards.

"Anyone who dares touch my son will have to go through me! What's wrong with my son coming to my golden anniversary!"

Then she wrapped herself around the youngest son and held on tight, like she was protecting some rare treasure.

"Isn't there maybe some kind of misunderstanding here? Why don't we finish the ceremony first, and not make things hard on the boy."

A relative was speaking up for me. They all knew what had happened back then, and they were afraid that if I lost my temper today, no one would even get to eat, so they hurried to calm my mother-in-law down. I drew a deep breath, and for the sake of the whole family's face, I decided not to keep arguing with her.

But my mother-in-law wouldn't let it go, insisting there was no way her son was leaving. "Why can't I say it! She never once thought to help her husband's little brother! My son was barely in his twenties back then! And she forced him to go get a job! She's just vicious! She can't stand to see her brother-in-law do well!"

"She only agreed to put up a little money to send him abroad to study after our whole family got down and begged her. If that isn't a slap in all our faces, then what is it?"

Hearing all this, I shook all over with rage, and I couldn't hold back anymore. "Back then your youngest son wouldn't apply himself, so I, his sister-in-law, hired the best tutor to help him. And he deliberately caused trouble until he drove the tutor away!"

"I got him into the best company to work, and he turned it right around and said I was trying to hound him to death. In the end I was the one who paid for him to study abroad! And now you're saying it was my fault!"

My mother-in-law let out a roar and stood up to square off against me. "How is it not your fault? You knew perfectly well how insecure your brother-in-law was, and you still drove that fancy car on purpose just to provoke him!"

Then she turned to my husband, her voice climbing higher. "Look at your little brother, he'd never go find this kind of wife just to spite me! Anyone I didn't like, he dropped her, every single one!"

"You can't hold a candle to your brother! And this wife of yours can't hold a candle to his wife either!"

My husband's face darkened at once. He looked at me with something like reproach, as if he too thought this was my fault.

The whole room fell silent, everyone listening dumbly to my mother-in-law's accusations. For a moment I couldn't come back to myself. Back when the youngest son ran away from home, I was the one who had taken care of them all, giving it everything I had.

All these years, whatever was good, I gave it to them to use, to eat. I thought if I was good to them, they would change how they saw me.

And this was what it came to. This was what they had thought of me all along.

My father-in-law saw the looks on our faces and cut in with a cold snort, even shoving the youngest son straight into the seat of honor.

"Enough, daughter-in-law. If you hadn't insisted on playing the crusader back then, would your brother-in-law have run away from home? Would he have gone all these years unable to come back and see us? You think we'll be grateful just because you give us these things!"

"You went out of your way to invite all these people today, throwing a banquet in a big house like this! You just want to prove you're better than his brother, don't you? What a scheming woman."

Listening to all this mockery, my heart sank inch by inch to the bottom. It was because of their golden anniversary, because they said they wanted a ceremony they'd never forget, that I had gone and specially asked a friend to book this place.

And not one of them appreciated it. Instead they twisted everything against me.

I laughed bitterly, walked over to the youngest son, and kicked his chair over. He rolled straight off the seat onto the floor, and my mother-in-law shrieked and rushed to help her son up.

"If you hadn't caused the death of my child back then, and stolen from my home, and harassed our maid, would I ever have driven you out?"

The moment I finished, the whole room sucked in a sharp breath. Everyone had thought the youngest son was hauled off just for stealing. No one had imagined there was so much more underneath.

"Shut your mouth! Are you trying to drag our whole family's name through the mud? You just can't stand your own brother-in-law! You vicious woman!"

My mother-in-law screamed and wept at me at the same time.

I looked at the necklace around his neck, millions of dollars of it, the one I'd just bought him. The custom-label outfit on his back, worth six figures, I'd had made for him only last month.

He'd enjoyed every last bit of it, and now I was the ungrateful one. Truly laughable.

I ignored her cursing and turned to the rest of the room. "If any of you are curious, you're welcome to look up the scandal from back then online. As for tonight's party, I think we'll end it here."

Then I turned to the youngest son and my mother-in-law. "You love him so much, so let him pay for tonight. I won't stand in the way of him being a good son to you. Otherwise you'll only say I'm putting on an act again."

That was when my husband couldn't take it anymore and stepped in for them. "He's suffered enough these past years. And Mom hasn't had it easy either. He only wanted to see his son. Why do you have to be so merciless?"

My father-in-law joined in to talk me down. "That's right, that's right. Today was supposed to be our celebration. Give us a little face."

I almost laughed from the anger. Who exactly was refusing to give whom any face here.

"When your mother forced you to drop out of school back then, you didn't think your brother had it so hard. So what are you playing the good guy for now?"

His face went dark at once, and he didn't dare say another word.

The youngest son nearly fainted at all this, putting on his frail, delicate act, and the sight only made my mother-in-law angrier.

"Look at you. You're trying to push our whole family to death. All that meekness back then was fake. I can see now we never should have let you in the door! So your brother-in-law took your husband's tuition, that's all. And this is how you get your revenge?"

She left me completely speechless. I laughed coldly, several times over. "Just the tuition? We bought him his million-dollar new car. I paid for his two-million-dollar wedding!"

"And his five-hundred-thousand mortgage! Wasn't that me too? How much of your own money have you ever given him?"

My mother-in-law's expression shifted, a flicker of guilt in her eyes.

"You're lying! That money was all spent on this family! How it got spent is none of your business!"

Every single time, they came to me for money. To keep this family peaceful and steady, to keep my husband from being caught in the middle, I'd given in again and again, telling myself that even a peace I paid for was still worth having.

And all I got was a pack of ingrates.

Seeing that she still wouldn't back down, I simply pulled out the bills. The relatives crowded in, wanting a clear look, and her eyes went red on the spot.

Her hand came flying and struck me hard across the face.

"You cheap slut, who gave you permission to do this!"

The blow left my head ringing, blood filling my mouth, my cheek throbbing.

I'd been cherished my whole life, held in the palm of someone's hand, and I had never been humiliated like this. For a moment I couldn't take it in.

But something like it had happened once before, back when I got married.

To be with the man who was now my husband, I gave up everything and walked away from my own family, and I put on my wedding dress with a full and happy heart.

Then I got to the reception hall and found out the day was being shared with the younger brother, and the brother's wife was even wearing a gown just like mine. Mine was the real thing. His was a knockoff.

The moment my mother-in-law saw it, she rushed over, grabbed at my dress, and demanded to know what was going on. I had to change into something else.

The brother's wife was unhappy, so my mother-in-law actually told me to give my dress to her and to wear her own old wedding gown from years ago for my ceremony.

I burst into tears right then, wronged beyond words.

"Do you want to embarrass your husband's brother and his bride like this? Be good and just change."

My father-in-law backed her up too, while my husband stood there dumbly to the side, watching his parents with a coward's face, not daring to say a single word for me.

"As the eldest brother's wife, this is exactly how you should be. Help the younger ones more."

My husband soothed me softly, and back then I believed that if I was good enough, did enough, helped every single one of them, they would surely see how good I was.

So after that I worked myself to the bone, earned everything I could, gave them whatever they asked for, all for one word of praise as a good eldest brother's wife.

Later I got pregnant, and I went to find my mother-in-law with my heart full of joy, telling her happily that she was going to be a grandmother.

Who knew she would raise her hand and slap me: "How do you have the nerve to smile! You know perfectly well your brother's wife can't have children! You got pregnant on purpose, didn't you, just to spite her?"

My tears fell in an instant. Why couldn't I have what she couldn't? Why did the brother and his wife get every ounce of my mother-in-law's favor?

I was an only child. I didn't understand this kind of bias, and I cried myself sick at home.

Then the youngest son called me to come eat, saying my mother-in-law wanted to apologize, and because a thread of hope still hung in me, I went out with him. But he pushed me down the stairs, and my baby was gone on the spot.

In my ears was the younger brother's devilish laughter.

When I got pregnant again, I never told my husband's family, not until the child was born. Only then did they see my son.

The pain in my face was still sharp now, and it seemed to overlap with that pain from years ago, growing worse.

The mother-in-law in front of me was still screaming and thrashing, calling me cold-blooded, cursing me for insisting on settling accounts with my own family, for tossing them money like charity and now wanting it back.

"Susan James, don't you forget! My son gave up his chance to go abroad to help you! And this is how you repay our family!"

"My son chose economics for your sake. Otherwise he'd have had a far better future!"

The color drained from my face at once, and my mind went straight to what had happened all those years ago. Back then I was in a car accident and couldn't manage many things on my own, and my husband gave up his spot to study abroad and devoted himself to getting me through recovery.

In those days he never complained of the hardship or the exhaustion. He said as long as I got better, he'd do anything.

Back then, one word from me and he would go all over to find whatever good food I was craving, then bring it to me as fast as he could.

Back then I swore to myself that I would be good to him, good to his family, that I would repay them well.

But I did all of this, so why was it still my fault? All I wanted was for things to be fair.

My mind went numb. The scene from back the mothern played over and over in my head, and all at once I had no strength left to argue.

I slowly lifted my hand to my burning cheek. My fingertip came away with a smear of something warm and wet. Blood. The slap must have made me bite through the inside of my lip. I looked at my mother-in-law wailing in front of me, at my husband shrinking off to the side, too afraid to say a word, and at my younger brother-in-law hiding behind her, watching me with that smug little gleam in his eyes, and suddenly every rebuttal felt pointless. All these years I had poured my heart out and thrown so much money into this family, kept my head down and given them all the face they wanted. A cold stone you can never warm, no matter how long you hold it.

The younger brother-in-law, who a moment ago had been playing sick and pathetic, suddenly jumped up and shouted at me, That's right. If it weren't for my brother, who on earth would have taken a cripple like you?

I rubbed my temples. My head throbbed, and I was tired all the way through. I turned and walked out with long strides, trying to leave every one of their voices behind me.

Behind me they were still shouting, sure they had won.

The relatives, glad they didn't have to pay, and not caring in the least what had actually happened to me, cheerfully sat back down to eat. My in-laws proudly carried off the jewelry and pulled the younger son over to sit with them at the head table.

Not one person came after me, and looking back at that, the ache in my chest was more than I could bear.

It wasn't until I got back to the company that things quieted down a little. Then my secretary suddenly stepped up and handed me a folder, hesitating before he spoke. :

Ms. James, your mother-in-law brought in a resignation letter for you yesterday. She said you were resigning, to make room for your brother-in-law to come in.

My eyes went wide. I flipped through the letter in disbelief. It really was in her handwriting.

So he had known all along that the younger brother-in-law would be coming back. He'd shown it to me today on purpose, just to humiliate me.

And of all things, back then, to make her happy, I had told the whole company he was free to come and go as he pleased, given him all the face in the world. Who could have known he would turn around and use it to stab me now.

While I sat there in a daze, my phone suddenly rang. I looked at the number, familiar and strange at the same time, and sank into thought. I picked up one second before it would have gone to voicemail. :

Mom.

My voice came out a little bitter, my throat aching.

Susie, in two years I'm planning to move to Australia. Are you really going to keep staying in that house? Do you truly not want to take over the family company?

Once, I might have wavered. Now I shook my head, firm. :

No, Mom. I'm coming home.