Chloe’s lip trembled. Suddenly, she burst into dramatic, echoing tears.
“Take it off her!” Chloe wailed, pointing a manicured finger at my reflection. “It’s too flattering! She’s trying to upstage me! She always does this!”
Before I could even process the absurdity of the accusation, the boutique’s seamstress approached, looking deeply uncomfortable. “Miss, the alterations on the bridal gown… the emergency restructuring of the bodice. It will be an additional fifteen thousand dollars. We need payment before releasing the dress.”
My mother froze. Her eyes darted around, terrified the staff would realize she didn’t have the funds. With a heavy sigh, I stepped forward, reaching into my purse. I quietly handed the seamstress my personal platinum card. Fifteen thousand dollars. The last of my emergency fund.
Chloe didn’t thank me. She didn’t even look at the card. She just kept crying about my dress.
My mother immediately stepped in, her manicured fingers gripping my arm tightly, her nails digging into my skin. She pulled me behind a rack of veils. “You need to tone down your presence, Harper,” she hissed, her eyes flashing with venom. “Look at your hair, it’s practically screaming for attention. Don’t ruin your sister’s one chance at true greatness just because you’re jealous.”
Jealous. I was practically bankrupting myself to fund this charade, and I was jealous.
I swallowed the massive lump in my throat. I looked at my mother’s cold eyes, realized for the thousandth time that I would never be enough for her, and nodded. “Okay, Mom,” I whispered. I stepped back out into the shadows, out of the mirror’s reflection.
That night, exhausted to my bones and suffering from a blinding migraine after secretly paying off yet another of Chloe’s delinquent florist invoices over the phone, I dragged myself up to my childhood bedroom. I took a heavy sleeping pill, craving just a few hours of oblivion. I locked my bedroom door, turning the deadbolt with a soft click, feeling a fleeting sense of safety.
I was entirely unaware that my mother had possessed a master key to that lock all along.
