Chapter 11

Chapter 11

SARA'S POINT OF VIEW

I could feel the anger coming off my dad as he stormed towards me. His eyes were on fire, and I'd never seen him this mad before. It was scary, but I tried to stand up straight and not show how freaked out I was. I wasn't going to let him scare me. Not now, when I was so close to getting what I wanted.

"Why were you with Max?!" Dad yelled, getting right in my face. He was so close I could feel how hot and angry he was. 

I blinked and tried to look confused. "What are you talking about?"

He pointed his finger at me, his face all red. "Don't act like you don't know, Sara. People saw you with him! Everyone's talking about it. Do you know how bad this could be for our family? For Eva?"

I almost laughed when he said Eva's name. Of course, this was all about her. It always was.

"Dad, it's not what you think," I said, trying to sound calm even though I felt like screaming. "Max and I were just talking. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Talking?" He sounded like he didn't believe me at all. "You've been tricking him, haven't you? Just like your mom."

That hurt. It felt like he'd slapped me. Dad never tried to hide how much he didn't like Mom, or me. But this was worse than usual. I wanted to yell at him, to tell him how stupid he was being. But I held it in.

Before I could say anything, Mom stepped in. She looked super calm. "That's enough, William," she said, sounding really steady. "Sara didn't do anything wrong."

"Didn't do anything wrong?" Dad turned to look at her, his eyes wide. "You've been putting ideas in her head, haven't you? This is all your fault. You're trying to break up our family."

Mom's eyes got narrow, and for a second, I thought she might explode. But she stayed calm. Her voice was cold when she said, "Don't be stupid. You're the one who's let this family fall apart. You've spent years ignoring Sara, treating her like she doesn't matter. All she's ever wanted is for you to be proud of her."

Those words just hung there in the air. For a second, I thought I saw something in Dad's eyes maybe he felt bad, or sorry. But it went away real fast, and he just looked angry again, like he always does.

He turned back to me, looking all dark and mad. "You need to stay away from Max, Sara. Do you get it? Whatever you think you're doing, it stops now. Eva is his wife, not you."

When he said Eva's name, it felt like someone stabbed me in the chest. I wanted to scream at him, to tell him that Eva didn't deserve Max, that she didn't deserve anything. But I didn't. I knew this wasn't the time to lose it.

Instead, I took a big breath and made my shoulders droop. I even made my eyes get all watery. I learned a long time ago how to make people feel sorry for me, how to look small and helpless when I needed to.

"Dad, please," I whispered, making my voice shake. "I wasn't trying to hurt anyone. I just... I just wanted someone to notice me. I'm always in the background. No one ever sees me."

His face got softer for just a second, and I knew I had him. I let some tears fall, making sure to keep my voice all shaky and sad.

"I know I'm not perfect like Eva," I said, making it sound like I was having trouble talking. "But I didn't mean to do anything bad. I just... I thought maybe if I could get close to Max, I could finally feel like I mattered. Like I wasn't invisible."

I saw Dad's hand shake a little, and I could tell he wasn't as angry anymore. He didn't totally believe me, but he didn't know what to do with me crying like this.

"I just wanted to feel like someone cared about me," I said, real quiet. "I'm sorry if I made you disappointed. I didn't mean to."

Mom just stood there, watching us. She looked like she knew exactly what I was doing. She taught me all this stuff - how to make people feel things, how to turn things around so they work for me. And it was working.

Dad's shoulders dropped, and for the first time in forever, he looked like he didn't know what to do. "Sara..." His voice wasn't as mad now, but he still sounded frustrated. "You don't need to do this. You don't need to be with Max to show you're worth something."

I wiped my eyes and sniffled. "I know. I'm sorry."

We were all quiet for a long time. Dad just stared at me. I could tell he was torn between being mad and feeling like maybe he should be a better dad. I knew I had him. The tears, the soft voice - it was all fake. But it didn't matter. What mattered was that I made him stop being so mad, that I made him think about something else instead of what I was really doing.

Finally, he sighed and rubbed his face. "We'll talk about this later. Just... stay away from Max for now. Please."

I nodded, looking down at the floor like a little kid who got in trouble. "I will."

He started to leave, but then Mom spoke up. She sounded all calm. "William, we should all sit down and talk about this like a family. We don't need all this drama."

He gave her a real mean look. "I'm done talking for tonight."

Then he walked out, leaving the door swinging a little.

As soon as he was gone, I wiped the rest of the tears off my face and stood up straight. Mom looked at me with a little smile.

"Good job," she said quietly.

I couldn't help but smile back. 

"Thanks," I whispered.

But even though I felt like I'd won, something didn't feel right. I sat down on the couch, suddenly feeling real tired.

"Do you think he believed me?" I asked Mom, my voice shaky for real this time.

Mom sat down next to me, putting her arm around my shoulders. "Of course he did, sweetie. You were perfect."

I leaned into her, feeling like a little kid again. "But what if he's right? What if I'm ruining everything?"

Mom pulled back and looked me in the eye. "Listen to me, Sara. You're not ruining anything. You're taking what's rightfully yours. Eva's had everything handed to her her whole life. It's your turn now."

I nodded, but I still felt weird inside. Like maybe we were going too far. "But Dad seemed so mad. And what about Max's grandpa? What if he really does cut ties with our company?"

Mom waved her hand like it was no big deal. "Don't worry about that. I'll handle it. You just focus on Max. Keep him close, make him see that you're the one he should be with."

I took a deep breath, trying to push away the doubts. "Okay. I can do that."

Mom smiled and patted my cheek. "That's my girl. Now, let's get some rest. Tomorrow's a new day, and we have a lot of work to do."

As I got up to go to my room, I stopped and looked back at Mom. "Do you ever feel bad? About what we're doing to Eva?"

For a second, I thought I saw something flicker in Mom's eyes. Maybe sadness? But then it was gone, and she was smiling again. "Eva made her choice, Sara. She chose to take what should have been yours. We're just setting things right."

I nodded and headed up to my room. But as I lay in bed that night, I couldn't shake this feeling in my gut. Like maybe, just maybe, we were the bad guys in this story. But then I thought about Max, about how it felt to be with him, and I pushed those thoughts away. 

I was so close to having everything I ever wanted. I couldn't let a little guilt get in the way now.