Chapter 9 - The Unraveling
Back inside the house, through the open bay windows, the sound of screams could be heard all the way out to the street.
Brooke wasn't crying anymore. She was screaming at Eleanor.
"This is your fault!" Brooke’s screech carried across the lawn. "You told me Emma would always cover it! You told me she was weak! You said she felt too guilty about Dad to ever say no! You made me spend eighty thousand dollars on this fake wedding, and now Liam dumped me and I have nowhere to live!"
"I did it for you!" Eleanor screamed back, her voice hoarse and breaking. "I gave you everything! I protected you from the bills! I protected you from the business! I made you look like a lady while Emma worked like a dog, and this is how you repay me?!"
"A lady?!" Brooke shrieked in hysterical laughter. "I'm twenty-seven years old and I don't know how to do my own taxes! I don't have a college degree because you told me I was too pretty to work an office job! You ruined me, Mom! You turned me into a parasite!"
Inside the SUV, I watched the silhouettes of my mother and sister tearing each other apart in the living room of my childhood home. For years, they had formed an impenetrable alliance against me, united in their shared entitlement, treating me as their endless, uncomplaining ATM.
Now, with the money gone, the illusion had evaporated. There was no loyalty between them. There was only greed, vanity, and the bitter poison of mutual destruction.
"Are you okay?" Julian asked, taking my cold hand in his.
May you like
I looked at the house where I had spent so many sleepless nights calculating debt ratios, trying to save a family that never once considered saving me. A deep, profound sense of peace washed over my chest, like a suffocating weight finally being lifted from my lungs.
"I've never been better," I whispered. "Let’s go home."
