"Maybe she didn't know either—"

"For three months?" I cut in. "The laptop got that slow, and she never noticed? She was editing videos and gaming on it."

Mom went quiet for a second, then her face hardened.

"So you're really gonna ruin your relationship with her over this little bit of money?"

I looked at her, at the disappointment written all over her face, and something cold settled in my chest.

"Mom, it's four thousand dollars. Since when is that 'little money'?"

"You make almost three grand a month, right? Is four thousand really worth tearing the family apart over?" She crossed her arms. "Vivian just started working. She barely makes two grand a month. Making her pay that much would crush her."

I suddenly couldn't breathe right. "Mom, that laptop cost sixty-eight hundred dollars. I'm paying it off in monthly installments. I still owe five-sixty-five every month. The thing isn't even paid off yet, and it's already wrecked. Why shouldn't she pay for it?"

Mom let out a long sigh, her voice softening. "I know this is hard for you. But Vivian's your cousin. I'm worried you'll destroy the relationship. Your aunt spoils her enough already. If you keep pushing this, how are our families supposed to get along afterward? What are people gonna say about you?"

I stared at her. "What are they gonna say?"

"They'll say you're immature. That you're fighting family over money."

"She trashed my property first," I said slowly. "If I let this slide, what's next? My camera? My car? Borrowing money and pretending to forget about it?"

"You really are impossible sometimes!"

"That's enough." I headed for my room. "Stay out of it."

***

The next day at two, Starbucks.

My mom insisted on coming. Said she was "afraid you two would start fighting."

Vivian showed up thirty minutes late.

And she didn't come alone.

Her mom, Aunt Melissa, came with her.

The second Vivian looked at me, I saw zero guilt. Just annoyance and attitude.

Aunt Melissa frowned like I was the one being ridiculous.

Vivian dropped into her seat first. "Lindsay, did you drag me out here to interrogate me?"

"I just want to clear this up."

"What's there to clear up? I already told you, I didn't replace anything!"

"Then how'd every part inside the laptop get swapped?"

Her expression hardened. "What are you trying to say? That I did it on purpose? Like I have nothing better to do?"

"Then explain how this happened."

"How would I know?" Her voice shot up. "I used it normally. It crashed once, so I took it to some repair place downstairs to reinstall the system. That's it."

"Which shop? What was it called?"

"I told you, I don't remember. Just some little repair place. Who memorizes that stuff?"

I slid the inspection report across the table.

Vivian glanced at it but didn't touch it. "I'm not reading that. I wouldn't understand it anyway."

"It's from the authorized service center, stamped and everything. The motherboard assembly, RAM, and SSD were all swapped with cheap used parts."

"You really believe that repair shop crap?" she said with a sneer. "They're obviously trying to scam you."

"This is an authorized service center. Not some random repair place."

"Whatever." She crossed her arms. "You already decided I'm guilty, so why even ask me anything?"

Aunt Melissa finally jumped in. "Lindsay, Vivian would never do that. She's just a girl. What does she know about laptop hardware? It was probably the repair shop messing with it."

"She picked the repair shop. She says she doesn't remember the name. The laptop stayed with her for three months, and it came back gutted. Why shouldn't she be responsible?"

"Responsible for what?" Vivian snapped. "Do you have proof? Did you actually see me swap the parts?"

"The proof is that it was perfectly fine when I lent it to you. It was wrecked when you gave it back. The timeline's obvious."

"Obvious my ass!" She shot to her feet. "I'm telling you right now, I'm not paying a single cent. If you want to sue me, then do it. Let's see what a court can even do to me."

"Vivian!" Aunt Melissa grabbed her arm.

"Mom, stay out of it!" She yanked free and pointed at me. "Lindsay, I finally see who you really are. It's just a stupid laptop and four grand, and you're willing to destroy our relationship over it? Is money seriously all you care about?"

I looked at her twisted expression and suddenly felt like I didn't know her at all.

"This isn't about money," I said. "It's about responsibility. You borrowed my laptop. It came back damaged. You pay for it. That's how this works."

"What damage? The laptop still turns on, doesn't it? It still works!"

"Works?" I opened the laptop, pulled up Photoshop, and imported an image. "Watch."

The loading bar crawled across the screen. The fan screamed loud enough for people at the next table to glance over.

"A ten-minute render used to take ten minutes. Now it takes two hours. Programs that used to open instantly freeze for three minutes. You call that working?"

Vivian's face went red, then pale. "Th-That still wasn't me! It was the repair shop!"

"You picked the repair shop."

"I didn't know they'd swap the parts!"

"Then why didn't you tell me you got it repaired? Why can't you tell me the shop's name? And why did you tell me it was 'totally fine' three different times when I asked?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Aunt Melissa jumped in fast. "Lindsay, maybe Vivian just didn't want you worrying—"

"Didn't want me to worry?" I let out a laugh. "Or didn't want me finding out and asking her to pay for it?"

My mom looked uncomfortable. "Lindsay, watch your tone..."

"Mom, I'm telling the truth."

"You—"

"Enough." Vivian cut her off, pulled out her phone, and shoved it toward me. "Look. Three hundred dollars. That's what I paid for the reinstall. If I swapped the parts, why would it only cost three hundred?"

I glanced at the transfer record. "A reinstall with data backup usually costs around ninety to a hundred fifty. You paid three hundred. That doesn't prove nothing happened. It proves they charged you for more than just a reinstall."

She froze.

"Lindsay!" Aunt Melissa snapped. "How can you say something like that? Vivian's your cousin! Are you trying to push her over the edge?"

"Who's pushing who here?" I looked straight at her. "Forty-six hundred dollars of hardware got turned into six-hundred-dollar junk. That's a four-thousand-dollar loss. Why shouldn't it be paid back?"

"You can't talk like this! We're family. Can't we handle this calmly?"

"I have been calm." I looked at Vivian. "Three months ago, I calmly lent her my laptop. A month later, I calmly asked when she was giving it back.

"Two months later, I calmly asked if something was wrong with it.

"Yesterday, I calmly told her the inspection results.

"So tell me—when was she actually honest with me?"

Aunt Melissa went quiet.

Vivian grabbed her bag. "Mom, let's go. There's no point talking to someone like her."

She spun around and stormed out.

Aunt Melissa shot me one last look before following her out.

My mom stayed across from me, frowning. "Lindsay, you were too harsh."

"What exactly did I say wrong?"

"If you talk to Vivian like that, how do you expect her to admit anything?"

"So she screws up, and I'm supposed to beg her to own it?"

"That's not what I mean—"

"Then what do you mean?" I looked at her. "Ever since we were kids, every time Vivian broke my stuff or borrowed money and never paid it back, you told me to let it go. She says, 'I didn't mean to,' and suddenly everything's fine.

"This time it's forty-six hundred dollars in hardware. What about next time? If she hits someone with her car, does 'I didn't mean to' magically fix that too?"

My mom frowned harder. "How can you compare those things?"

"It's the same principle." I stood. "If you do something wrong, you take responsibility. She's gone over twenty years without learning that. So now I'm teaching her."

I grabbed the inspection report and my laptop, then walked out of the coffee shop.