s seared into my mind. I was sitting at this very kitchen table. My acc

mother had said, her v

ic. I thought someone was

ther said, gruff and avoidant. "Your

couldn't process it. "You

siveness. "It's an investment in family. Kyle's trip to Europe is a once-in-a-lifet

ding up so fast my chair scraped against the floor. "This is C

. "Your aunt has had a hard life. We owe it to her to help her son. You're young.

money!" I was desperate, pleading. "I'll call her. I'll t

ear this family apart. Do you want to be responsible f

yal. And in the end, I buckled. I was eighteen, and they were my p

oice pulled me back to the

A huge, golden-brown turkey sat in the center. Everyone was already seated, passi

yle's plate, then on Chloe's, my aunt's, my mother's, and Susan's. When the platter came to me,

low, Ethan," Kyle said with a c

t on my plate. I watched as they praised Kyle'

nt declared, beaming. "He gets

d learn from your cousin. Maybe if you showed some initi

s from three Ivy League schools. I had been on a path to become a chemical engineer. I had loved the precision of it, the logic. Now I spent my d

was adrift, depressed. My aunt introduced me to Susan. "She's a nice, simple

y wanted me "grounded." They wanted me stuck. The marriage was just another chain to ensure I never rose high enough to cast a shadow o

he one good thing in my life, the one person who looked at me with pure, unconditional love. An

tasted like ash in my mouth. I had let them do this to me for too long. But I wouldn't