Now she wouldn’t even let me walk through a door.
My fiancé, Mark, stepped up beside me. “Claire, we can go.”ase don’t ruin your sister’s day.”
Something cold and precise settled in my c
Vivian’s eyes flicked toward him, irritated. “This is family business.”
“So was asking her for money,” he replied.
My mother finally looked up. “Claire, plehest.
I opened my clutch.
Vivian’s face lit up for half a second—greedy people always recognize the sound of a zipper near money. I pulled out the last check, the one she had begged me to bring.
Twenty thousand dollars.
Her final payment.
I held it up.
Vivian whispered, “Don’t be stupid.”
I tore it once.
Her mouth parted.
I tore it again. And again. And again. Tiny white fragments drifted onto the polished floor like dead confetti.
I smiled.
“Have fun paying the suppliers,” I said, “because the venue contract is in my name.”…
Part 2
Vivian went pale so quickly her spray tan looked painted on.
“You’re lying,” she snapped.
I bent down, picked up a torn corner of the check, and pressed it into her shaking hand. “Call them.”
My mother gasped. “Claire, stop this.”
I turned to her. “You watched her humiliate me.”
“She’s stressed.”
“She’s cruel.”
Vivian’s fiancé, Daniel, appeared at the far end of the hallway, boutonniere crooked, jaw tight. “What’s happening?”
Vivian rushed to him, tears appearing on cue. “Claire is sabotaging us. She’s jealous because no one wants to look at her today.”
Daniel looked at me with his usual lazy contempt. “Pay the bill, Claire. Don’t make this ugly.”
I almost laughed.
For two years, I had watched him wear fake watches and real arrogance. He called himself an entrepreneur, which really meant three failed apps, one rented sports car, and a talent for convincing Vivian that debt was ambition.
“You should talk to your bride,” I said. “She just banned me from the photos I paid for.”
