I love my sister-in-law, but she’s a lot of work. She’s high-maintenance and sometimes it’s difficult to engage with her. But for the sake of my brother, Brandon, I try my hardest to make things work with her.

Melissa has always been a leech. She’s been married to my brother for about ten years now, and he is blind to her manipulative ways. You see, Melissa has a knack for getting anything for nothing and expects the entire world to cater to her whims.

Last month, Melissa invited me to go grocery shopping at this fancy, overpriced store she loves.

“Oh, come on, Hannah,” she said. “It will be fun for us to spend some time together.”

It was right before her birthday, so I thought it might be good to spend some time together, and maybe even pick out a nice gift.

Little did I know we were walking into a trap.

“Your shoes are definitely not made for spending hours to walk around and shop,” Melissa said when she got out of her car at the parking lot.

“I’ll be fine,” I laughed.

We spent a few hours wandering through the aisles, and Melissa kept throwing things into the cart, chatting away like it was no big deal.

“Do you really need an entire collection of these candles?” I asked Mel as she picked up about six different candles and put them into the cart.

“Yes!” she replied, looking at boxes of collections and other imported items.

When we got to the checkout counter, the total came to a whopping $1,470!

My jaw hit the floor, but if Melissa was happy with spending that amount of money, then it truly wasn’t up to me.

Except when Melissa turned to me.

“Oh no!” she exclaimed. “Hannah, I think I left my wallet at home! Can you cover this? I’ll pay you as soon as we get back home.”

“Sure, but this is a ridiculous amount, are you sure you need everything?” I asked.

I was financially well-off and I could afford to pay the bill, but I didn’t know if I needed to do it. Melissa had bought random things that nobody would really need.

“Yes, Hannah,” she replied. “This is all stuff I need for my birthday. I’m planning that.”

I reluctantly agreed, not wanting to cause a scene.

“I promise, you’ll be reimbursed. Either Brandon or I will get the money to you, Hannah!”

I nodded and took my wallet out of my handbag.

When we left the store, Melissa got into her car without a second glance at me and drove off.

Soon, days turned into a week and when I saw Melissa at our family brunch, I asked her about the money.

And do you know what? She had the audacity to laugh and sip on her mimosa and say:

“Oh, come on! Why are you being so greedy? Consider it a birthday gift. You can afford it.”

I was speechless. I couldn’t believe that this was my sister-in-law. How do you treat family so callously?

But I knew that it was time to teach her a lesson that she’d never forget.

First, I knew that Melissa had been bragging for months about a new luxury car that she was planning to buy.

“It’s luxurious, Hannah. It’s like the seats were just made for me. And you know what’s even better? Brandon is going to co-sign the loan so that we can get the car!”

“Why him?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you just do it yourself?”

Mel looked at me sheepishly.

“Because my credit is shot, so there’s no way the dealership will allow it,” she said.

“But that’s why I have a husband,” she laughed as an afterthought.

I anonymously tipped off the dealership, telling them that my sister-in-law was approved for a loan, when I knew that she wasn’t good for it.

“I just wanted to know how I could go about the same thing, but my credit score isn’t the best either,” I said, acting like I didn’t know how the system worked.

The dealership asked me questions, and I gladly gave them Melissa’s name. This made them extra cautious, and they started asking for more documentation and references.

Mel was getting frustrated about the delays, and my brother was getting annoyed by her complaints.

“Why is this taking so long?” she whined one evening when they came over for dinner. “I’m supposed to have my car by now.”

“They said they need more paperwork,” Brandon said. “I don’t understand it either, but you need to be more patient.”

“Stupid formalities,” she muttered under her breath as she picked up her fork.

Next, I reached out to a friend who worked at a high-end bakery. The same bakery Melissa had ordered a ridiculously expensive custom cake from for her upcoming birthday party.

“She tends to stiff people on payments, Jess,” I said. “And as much as I love her, this is your business. So, I think you should demand payment upfront.”

“This is all ridiculous!” she fumed to my brother. “Why do they need all the money now? They’ve never asked for this before! When we ordered your mother’s birthday cake, it wasn’t an issue.”

“But you’ve got the money, right?” my brother asked, confused.

“Of course, I do! But that’s not the point! It’s the principle of it, Brandon.”

And this was just the beginning. I wanted to cause more drama.

Mel loves to shop online, so that was going to be my next target.

“Brandon, can I use your Amazon account?” I asked my brother. “I really think it’s time for me to get myself a Kindle.”

“Sure,” he said, beaming that I asked for his help with something. “I’ll text you all the details.”

I logged into the account and changed the password. Mel, who was sitting in my living room, was browsing when she decided to buy new things, and of course, she was locked out.

She spent hours on the phone with customer service trying to regain access, only to find out later that it was me all along.

“Amazon customer service is useless!” she ranted later when Brandon came over to pick her up. “They can’t even secure their own website.”

“What do you mean?” my brother asked.

“I can’t log in. It’s like your account doesn’t exist.”

“Maybe you should just take a break from shopping,” he suggested, half-joking.

She shot him a withering look.

“Not funny, Brandon. It’s my birthday soon, so I deserve nice things!”

I sniggered behind my glass of wine. Mel’s entitlement of life was getting from bad to worse.

For the final touch, Mel’s birthday dinner at home came. I went around, talking to my family and some of our mutual friends about how she had ditched me with a $1,470 bill and refused to pay me back.

At the end of the evening, most of the people had left.

Mel’s birthday present was a massive cake, a canceled car deal, and very few guests.

“Where is everyone?” she asked my brother, looking around at the almost empty living room.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Did they leave? Maybe they’re just running late. Hannah? Where is everyone?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“The party started an hour ago,” she whined.

And do you know what my birthday present to her was? A birthday card with $14.70 in a gift card for her.

Here’s a little something toward your next shopping trip. Happy Birthday, Melissa!

She was humiliated.

One evening, as I was sitting with a cup of tea, my brother called me, sounding more tired than I’d ever heard him.

“Hey, can we talk?” he asked.

“What’s up?” I replied, already sure that I knew what he wanted to talk about.

“It’s Mel,” he sighed. “I don’t know what to do. She’s been acting so strange. And now, with all the stuff you told everyone, I’m finally starting to see the things I ignored.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, genuinely feeling sorry for him. “But you deserve to know the truth. She cannot keep manipulating people through her life and expect to get away with it.”

“Well, we need to have a bigger conversation, Mel and I,” he said. “But if she doesn’t get her act together, a divorce may happen.”

I left him to talk away, hoping that his eyes were finally open to the woman he married.