Chapter 4

I thought that would be the end of it.

I wouldn't take her money, she wouldn't care if I lived or died, and we would go our separate ways.

But I underestimated her.

Two days later, Aunt Clara and Uncle Thomas’s family all showed up at the house.

At the dinner table, Aunt Clara was the first to speak.

"Natalie, I heard you’ve been throwing a tantrum at your mother?"

My fork paused. "I'm not throwing a tantrum."

"Oh, come on. No child should hold a grudge against their own mother." Aunt Clara scooped a prime cut of steak and put it on Noah’s plate.

"Your mother raised you two all by herself. Do you have any idea how hard that was?"

"Exactly," Uncle Thomas chimed in from the side.

"Your mother's salary isn't that high, and she’s putting two kids through college. It's not easy. It’s only natural to give Noah a bit more. He's a man; he’ll need to buy a house and get married in the future."

I set my fork down, a hot wave of anger surging in my chest. "So I don't need a house? I don't have a future?"

"You're a girl. Once you marry, you belong to another family," Aunt Clara snapped, giving me a dirty look.

"Honestly, I don't even see the point of spending so much money to send a girl to Harvard anyway. You should have just gotten a job early to help support your brother. Isn't that what daughters are for?"

"Support my brother? Help the family?"

I stared at her. "When I was shivering in my dorm, nearly dying of a fever, did anyone support me?"

The table went dead silent.

My mother poked her head out of the kitchen, her face incredibly dark.

"Natalie, are you looking for a fight?"

Aunt Clara sniffed. "Oh please, a fever is nothing. When we were young..."

"Enough." I couldn't listen to this garbage for another second.

Seeing my reaction, my mother walked out of the kitchen and sat directly across from me. "Are you done with this attitude?"

"My attitude?!"

"Yes, your attitude is toxic."

"We are having a family dinner, and you're sitting there looking like someone died. Who are you trying to ruin this for?"

"What if your brother got a little extra money? He is your twin brother. You share the same blood! Why are you so incredibly petty? You'll marry out eventually anyway."

Noah joined in, looking smug.

"Yeah, Natalie. You’re being way too sensitive. It’s just a little extra cash. Is it really worth throwing a whole tantrum over?"

"A little extra cash?"

With a few casual words, they had completely erased the blood, sweat, and tears I had swallowed for years.

I looked at the table overflowing with expensive food, and a wave of nausea hit me.

With a sudden sweep of my arm, I flipped my plate and bowl. The sound of ceramic shattering echoed violently through the room.

Everyone jumped in shock.

"You all think I'm just being petty about money, right?" I stood up, looming over them.

"Fine. Let me tell you some things you don't know."

"During my sophomore winter, I fought a fever for five days straight. I couldn't even afford ibuprofen. My roommate had to lend me fifty dollars, and I had no way to pay her back."

"So I went to a sketchy clinic and let them drain a pint of my plasma for fifty bucks."

"With that money, I paid back my roommate and bought two bagels to keep myself from starving."

"And on that very same night, my mother bought Noah an eight-hundred-dollar pair of limited-edition sneakers and threw him a massive birthday party."

"Those shoes alone could have paid for my allowance for nearly two semesters! It was worth sixteen plasma donations!"

The dining room was dead silent now.

Aunt Clara’s fork was frozen in mid-air. Uncle Thomas stared at his wine glass, pretending he was invisible.

Noah didn't even dare to look at me.

My mother's face turned a violent shade of crimson. Her lips trembled, and she slammed her hands onto the table.

"Are you finished?!"

"Spouting all this nonsense just to humiliate us in front of family!"

"If you feel so damn victimized in this house, you can leave."

"The front door is right there. Nobody is holding you back."

"Perfect. You said it, not me." I grabbed my thin coat and headed for the door.

"Mom, since you treat me like an outsider anyway, let’s make it official."

"From this day on, if I make it big, don't you dare come looking for me. And if I die in a ditch, you don't even have to bury my body!"