Chapter 7 - The Bride’s ChoiceMadison came to my apartment the night before the wedding.
She was alone.
Her face looked exhausted, and for the first time since the engagement, she was not carrying her phone.
“Can I come in?”
I stepped aside.
She sat on the couch and looked around my small apartment.
“You really don’t have much furniture,” she said.
It was an odd observation.
“I haven’t had much money left for furniture.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I thought you earned a lot.”
“I do.”
“Then where did it go?”
I almost told her that she knew exactly where it went.
But her expression stopped me.
For the first time, she looked less like the favored daughter and more like someone discovering that her childhood had been built on missing information.
“How much have you given Mom and Dad?” she asked.
“Over the last six years?”
She nodded.
“Nearly four hundred thousand dollars.”
Her mouth opened.
“That can’t be true.”
I showed her the transfers.
Mortgage payments.
Business loans.
Her car deposit.
Her graduate-school tuition.
Credit card balances.
Wedding deposits.
Madison stared at the screen.
“Dad said he paid my tuition.”
“He asked me to transfer the money to his account so he could pay it.”
“He said the car was his gift.”
“I paid the deposit and co-signed the loan.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time I questioned it, Dad said I was trying to make you feel guilty.”
She began to cry.
Not loudly.
The tears simply fell as she continued reading.
“I thought you didn’t like me.”
“I didn’t like being used to make your life look effortless.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“Because I thought protecting you was part of being your sister.”
“And now?”
“Now I think protecting you from every consequence helped Dad control both of us.”
Madison stood and walked toward the window.
“Is he really going to be arrested?”
“I don’t know when. The investigation is still active.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“That depends on him.”
She turned.
“He says you’re planning to expose him during the reception.”
“I gave him the chance to tell the truth privately.”
“You have a video.”
“Yes.”
“Of him and Sabrina?”
“Yes.”
Madison hugged her arms around herself.
“Mom still thinks there’s an explanation.”
“Mom has spent thirty-five years accepting explanations.”
Madison looked at me for a long time.
“I can cancel the wedding.”
“Do you want to marry Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t let Dad’s crimes take that from you.”
“But the reception—”
“Have the ceremony. Marry the person you love. Everything else is decoration.”
She gave a bitter laugh.
“That’s what Ethan has been saying.”
“Ethan seems smarter than all of us.”
Before leaving, Madison stopped at the door.
“If Dad attacks you tomorrow, don’t protect him.”
I studied her face.
May you like
“Are you sure?”
“No,” she said. “But do it anyway.”
