Chapter 1
My sister is marrying the father of my child.
Three years.
5 vouchers
That’s how long it had been since I stood outside that house with a suitcase in one hand and nowhere to go. It has been three years since I cried until my body gave out, since I collapsed with nothing but pain in my chest and a child I hadn’t even known was growing inside me.
Three years since Rick walked out of my life like I was nothing.
Now, the world looked different and so did I.
The wheel shifted under my hands as I turned off the main road, the hum of the engine soft beneath the sound of Lena’s gentle humming in the back seat.
Her legs swung in rhythm, her little voice trailing off with the song she made up. I caught a glimpse of her in the rearview mirror, soft curls, wide eyes, a face that looked like mine but carried the traces of someone I could never forget.
She was everything to me, the reason I survived when I had nothing.
After that night, I had lived in shelters for two weeks before finding work.
I saved every coin I earned, skipped meals, worked two jobs, dishwashing by day, deliveries at night until I scraped together enough to rent a one–room flat.
Eventually, I opened a tiny food cart with my savings, cooking in the mornings with Lena strapped to my
back.
People liked my food, came back for more, and somehow, against every odd, that cart became a café and then a small restaurant, a warm place, a place that felt like mine.
Now, I had staff, a steady income, a loyal community and Lena had her own room, her own bed, her own bedtime stories.
I never asked anyone for help especially not my family,
So when my father’s text arrived that morning, I almost deleted it. “Family dinner tonight. Marissa is getting married, be there.”
Just like that, no apology or warmth. No acknowledgment that they’d kicked me out and never checked if I
lived or died.
But I said yes.
Not for them, for me.
I needed to look them in the eye and show them what they lost.
1/3
8:39 pm ED.
Chapter 1
B5 vouchers
I needed them to see that I didn’t just survive, that I built a life they could never take credit for.
I didn’t expect kindness, I didn’t want it. I wanted closure.
The gates of the mansion appeared ahead, just like I remembered, tall, black, and soulless. Lena leaned forward in her car seat, eyes wide.
“Is this a castle, Mommy?” she asked.
“No, sweetheart,” I said softly, “just a very big house.”
The guard didn’t recognize me at first. I had to give my full name before he stepped aside. We drove in slowly, the driveway stretching on forever.
I parked near the main entrance. My heart didn’t beat faster but my hands tightened slightly on the wheel.
“Come on, baby,” I said, helping Lena out, smoothing down her little dress.
She held my hand as we walked toward the grand front doors. I pushed them open myself.
The scent hit me first, polished wood, flowers, something expensive and distant. Voices drifted in from the main sitting room, my father’s laugh carrying above the rest.
I stepped into the room with Lena beside me, and for a moment, no one noticed us.
My father stood near the fireplace, dressed in a deep navy suit, drink in hand. Across from him stood a tall man, his back to me, shoulders broad beneath a fitted blazer, posture calm and still. I couldn’t see his face.
“Oh,” my father said suddenly, spotting me. His smile turned sharp, smug, “who would’ve thought you’d actually show up.”
I said nothing yet, just straightened my spine, ready to speak, ready to say every word I had held inside for
years.
But he wasn’t finished.
“You’re just in time,” he said, motioning toward the man beside him. “This is my daughter, the one who ran off playing house with a food truck, you remember me telling you about her?”
The man turned and I stopped breathing.
My legs didn’t move, my fingers went slack in Lena’s hand.
The man standing beside my father, dressed in dark gray with sharp eyes and the same face I’d once memorized in the dark, was Rick, the father of my child.
My father smiled, oblivious to the silence that had dropped between us.
“Meet your sister’s fiancé,” he introduced Rick to me.
3:39 pm ED
