Chapter 2
"Emily, what the hell are you talking about?"
Maggie was the first to recover, grabbing Emily's arm and yanking her aside. Her face was flushed with anger as she yelled, "Are you insane? She's my mom. Why on earth would she save up for your wedding?"
"Why?" Emily shouted and ripped her arm from Maggie's grasp, letting out a laugh that was more like a choked sob.
Her tear-filled eyes bored into me as she screamed, "Because I've called her 'Aunt Linda' for nine years!
"Because my own parents abandoned me, and I made this my home!
"Because for nine years, every single thing I have eaten, worn, or used has come from this family!"
Her voice grew more and more shrill, each word a poisoned dart aimed at my heart.
She questioned, "Why does Maggie get a house and I get nothing? Am I not family? What about my wedding? Do you expect me to show up with nothing so my husband's family can look down on me for the rest of my life?"
The barrage of questions left me cold.
A chilling cold seeped into my bones.
I looked at my niece, this girl I had raised for nearly a decade, and saw a complete stranger.
All those years, she hadn't seen my care as a gift. She saw it as her due.
She wasn't a guest in my home. In her mind, she was my second daughter, patiently waiting to claim her share of the inheritance.
How absurd!
"Enough!" The word shot out of me before I could stop it.
I didn't raise my voice, but a sudden hush fell over the room.
Emily flinched, a tear trembling on her eyelash as she stared at me in shock.
In nine years, I had never, ever spoken to her like that.
"Emily, how old are you?" I asked coldly.
"N-nineteen," she stammered.
"And how old is Maggie?" I pressed.
"Twenty-four..." she mumbled.
"She's getting married. Of course I'm buying her a house. But you? You're nineteen, a college freshman. You don't even have a boyfriend, and you're demanding a wedding?" My voice was tight with a rage I was struggling to contain.
"I..." Emily was speechless, her face flashing from red to white.
She clearly hadn't expected this.
She must have thought I'd be wracked with guilt and rush to soothe her, promising her an equally lavish gift.
"Aunt Linda, that's not what I meant..." She looked down, the tears starting again, her face crumpling into that familiar, pitiful expression. "I'm just... I'm scared. I'm scared that now that Maggie has this, you won't want me anymore."
It was her go-to move: feigning weakness to win people over.
It was a tactic she'd perfected over nine years, one that had allowed her to live more comfortably than my own daughter.
Maggie was easygoing and never asked for much.
But Emily had learned long ago how to read a room and get exactly what she wanted.
I used to think she was just a sensitive soul, starved for love.
Now I saw how foolish I'd been.
"Linda, lay off." Richard, silent until now, finally spoke.
He stepped forward and pulled Emily behind him, shielding her.
He frowned at me, explaining, "She's just a kid. She misspoke. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? She's been with us for nine years without her parents. Of course she's insecure. It's only natural for her to be a little anxious."
I stared at him, incredulous.
"A kid? She's nineteen! Richard, did you even hear what she said? 'You forgot about me'? 'What about my wedding?' Is that insecurity, or just shameless greed?"