Veronica laughed lightly. “Perfect. Bradley needs credible investments. Family helps family.”
“These could be worth fifty million after the IPO,” I said quietly.
“Could be,” Marcus said. “Nothing is guaranteed. Bradley’s future is happening now.”
Bradley, who was eating cereal from a bowl like we were not discussing the theft of my life’s work, said, “Come on, Steph. It’s just paperwork.”
Just paperwork. A phrase people use when they want you to sign away something they know matters.
“I need to think about it.”
Veronica’s smile vanished. “What is there to think about unless you don’t trust your own family?”
Marcus stood up. “We’ve housed you. Fed you. Given you everything.”
“I pay most of this house’s expenses.”
“And now you can’t do one thing for your brother?” His voice hardened. “Sign by my birthday party this weekend, or we’ll reconsider your place in this family.”
Your place in this family. As if I had ever had one.
Two nights later, they staged an intervention.
Veronica invited relatives to sit around the dining room while Marcus called me selfish, greedy, and ungrateful. Uncle Tom said my mother would be ashamed of me.
My mother. The woman who had taught me to code before she died. The woman who had told me never to make myself small for anyone.
Marcus ended the meeting with one final ultimatum.
“Sign the papers at my birthday party in front of everyone, or I’ll announce that you’re no longer my daughter.”
I looked at them all. Veronica smiling. Bradley waiting. My father convinced he had won.
“I understand,” I said. “Tomorrow night, everyone will know where I stand.”
He thought that meant I would surrender. It did not.
Before the party, I packed my room.