Chapter 13 - THE MONEY
Civil accounting took four months.
The final numbers:
Kerensa-linked gross revenue:
$214,380.
Direct production expenses reasonably attributable to her content:
$58,940.
Platform fees and payment processing:
$21,600.
Taxes properly allocated:
Approximately $18,000.
Net economic value attributable before disputed household allocation:
$115,840.
Existing Kerensa reserve:
$72,000.
Additional compensation due under settlement:
$43,840.
Rounded after tax true-up:
$44,600.
Total transferred to Kerensa’s protected account:
$116,600.
Not $214,000.
Not $486,000.
Not every gross dollar belonged to her after real expenses.
Then household benefits.
Juniper House paid around $26,000 in expenses that benefited both Meliora and my household.
Could I be required to repay Kerensa?
The settlement allocated a portion.
I voluntarily added $15,000 to her account.
Not because law forced me.
Because I benefited from money connected to work I had failed to understand.
Naomi warned:
“Do not call it restitution in public.”
“I’m not talking publicly.”
Good.
Meliora retained legitimate income earned from:
Her own content.
Her design work.
Affiliate sales unrelated to Kerensa.
No confiscation.
Juniper House remained a company, but could not use Kerensa’s archive commercially.
The subscriber business collapsed by more than half.
Not because a judge ordered poverty.
Because the content people watched most disappeared.
That was market consequence.
Then tax issues.
Mixed personal/business spending.
Underreported contractor forms.
Ordinary small-business mess.
The IRS equivalent state/federal authorities assessed adjustments and penalties.
No dramatic tax prison.
Meliora’s accountant negotiated payment plan.
Precise.
Kerensa’s account?
Independent custodian.
Funds available later for:
Education.
Health.
Approved child-benefit expenses.
Not my mortgage.
Not vacations.
Not a reward for suffering.
Money could compensate labor.
May you like
It could not compensate humiliation exactly.
Still, if a child worked, the money belonged somewhere safer than Meliora’s operating account.
