Chapter 13 - The Sister’s True Colors
The fallout from the hotel meeting was swift, but it didn't come from my mother. Two days later, my phone rang during my lunch break at the office. The caller ID flashed a number I hadn't seen in months—Elaine Jr., my spoiled, untouchable younger sister.
I stared at the screen as it vibrated against the desk. For a moment, I considered letting it go to voicemail. But curiosity, sharp and biting, won out. I swiped the green button and brought the phone to my ear.
"If this is about bailing out mom and dad, save your breath," I said without greeting.
"You absolute, selfish bitch!" Elaine Jr.’s voice shrieked through the speaker, high-pitched and vibrating with raw, unadulterated fury. "What did you say to our mother? She’s been locked in her bedroom crying for two days, and dad had to take blood pressure medication!"
I leaned back in my ergonomic leather chair, spinning a sleek silver pen between my fingers. "Tell dad he should have monitored his cholesterol as closely as he monitored my credit card usage. It might have saved him a trip to the hospital."
"How can you be so cold?!" Elaine sobbed, the anger suddenly pivoting into theatrical heartbreak. "We’re sisters! We share the same blood! Do you have any idea what my life is like right now? They had to repossess my BMW! I have to take an *Uber* like a common person, Maya! My friends are all laughing behind my back!"
I couldn't help it—a dry, humorless laugh escaped my lips. "Oh, the horror. Taking an Uber. Truly, Elaine, a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Have you considered working? I hear Starbucks is hiring baristas. It builds character. Though, admittedly, character is a hard concept for someone whose entire personality is based on a six-thousand-dollar handbag."
"You think you’re so smart now that you have a real job and a cute little apartment!" she spat, her voice venomous again. "You think you’ve won! But everyone in the family knows what you really are—an ungrateful, resentful parasite who couldn't wait to stab us in the back the second things got tough!"
"Correction, Elaine," I said, my voice hardening into steel. "I didn't stab you in the back. I stepped out of the way while you drove the car off the cliff. And as for being a parasite? Let’s review the ledger. Who paid for your phone? Who paid for your designer clothes? Who bailed out your shopping sprees while I was eating instant ramen in college? It wasn't dad’s hard-earned money—it was the margins of the company I was secretly keeping afloat while you played socialite."
There was a sudden, stunned silence on the other end of the line. For a second, I thought she had hung up. But then came her ragged breathing.
"You... you always thought you were better than us," she whispered, her voice shaking with bitter realization.
"No, Elaine," I replied softly. "I just realized I deserved better than you."
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I tapped the red button, ending the call, and blocked her number permanently. The screen went dark, reflecting my own face—calm, focused, and entirely free.
***
