My Sister Demanded $15K, Mom Said “Pay Or Lose This Family”—I Cut Every Tie And…
“So you’ll watch us struggle?” my sister said when I refused to pay her debt. I simply replied, “Not my emergency.” Two hours later, my mom texted me: “$15K or lose family.” I cut every financial tie—forty-one missed calls by…
My name is Gloria Lutz and I’m 30. The call comes on a Tuesday afternoon while I’m halfway through a code review, cursor blinking over a pull request that keeps breaking tests. My phone vibrates across my desk. Ashley again. Third day in a row. Third time.
I pretend I don’t see it. I tell myself I’m being professional, focused, composed. Really, I’m rationing oxygen.
On the fifth vibration, I step into the corridor past walls holding teams that look better-rested than I feel. The skyline outside is a postcard—hard blue sky, the city’s teeth of high-rises catching light.
I call back.
She picks up on half a ring. “Finally.”
“What’s going on, Ash?”
“I need to talk. It’s important.”
“Then talk.”
A breath I know too well, like she’s building a story out of smoke. “Can we meet for coffee tonight?”
“Ashley, please.”
Silence stretches.
“Then I’m in trouble. Financial.” Another breath. “Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don’t want to—”
“How much, Ashley?”
“Fifteen… a hundred thousand.”
The sound in the corridor drops out like someone put the building on mute. I close my eyes.
“Credit cards?”
“Yeah.” Her voice goes small. “It just added up.”
“Debt doesn’t add up by accident.”
She bristles. “You don’t have to make me feel worse.”
“I’m not making you feel anything. I’m asking what you bought.”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Clothes, some furniture, dinners. Normal stuff.”
Normal. The word sits on my tongue like a dare. Ashley’s feed is a collage of champagne flutes and travel sunsets and unboxing videos of bags I can name by stitching pattern alone. She works part-time retail. Her apartment lease exists because I sign beside her shakily penned name.
“You can’t afford the minimums.”
“They’re killing me. I’m drowning, Glow.”
I hate when she calls me Glow like the nickname is a lever.
“What do you need?”
“A bailout. Just this once. I’ll pay you back.”
The story doesn’t end here –
it continues on the next page.
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