“Apologize to my daughter or leave this house,” my sister demanded after her fourteen-year-old hurled an iPhone 15 at my face. “I wanted the newest model, not this cheap one!” the girl screamed. My parents only smirked.
I didn’t argue. I pulled my investment, reclaimed the Tesla, and said, “From now on, you’re on your own.”
When the iPhone 15 slammed into my cheekbone, the pain was so sharp I saw white for a second. The phone spun across the hardwood and landed at my feet, its pink case scuffed from impact.
Across the living room, my niece Lena stood there shaking, her face blotchy with rage.
“I wanted the latest one, not this cheap model!” she shrieked, as if a thousand-dollar phone was something from a bargain bin.
My sister, Caroline, swept toward me like she’d been waiting for this moment. “Apologize to my daughter,” she snapped, jabbing her finger in my direction, “or you can get out of our home.”
The room went unnaturally quiet. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the look on my parents’ faces—a satisfied little smirk, the same one they’d worn my entire life whenever Caroline threw a tantrum and they called it “her strong personality.” Now they were watching the sequel, starring their granddaughter.
I touched my cheek.
It throbbed. But what hurt more was the realization that I’d been bankrolling this whole circus. I’d covered their overdue bills, put money into Caroline’s “big” real estate project, and let her drive the Tesla I bought for myself because her car “wasn’t reliable.” And this was my thanks—for “embarrassing” Lena with an iPhone 15 Pro instead of the brand-new titanium Pro Max all her friends supposedly had.
“Are you serious?” I asked quietly.
“She’s humiliated,” Caroline fired back.
“Do you know how it looks if her phone isn’t the newest version? You set her up to be mocked at school.”
Lena glared at me like I had ruined her life on purpose. My parents looked on, pleased—another chance to remind me I was always the problem, no matter what I did.
This time, I didn’t argue.
I didn’t explain. I just breathed in slowly and felt something inside me finally click into place.
Then I walked upstairs, grabbed the folder containing our investment agreements, unplugged the Tesla’s key card from the kitchen hook, and returned to the living room.
“I’m withdrawing my investment,” I said calmly. “And I’m taking the Tesla back.”
Caroline’s jaw dropped open.
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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