Her Own Making: A Family

Her Own Making: A Family

Gavin

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The familiar scent of my Aunt Carol' s pot roast once symbolized family, now it was the smell of my personal hell. My fiancé, Michael, sat beside me, urging me to eat, while my cousin Bethany feigned illness, subtly pressuring me to give up my Star-Tech internship for her. In my first life, I capitulated, sacrificing my hard-earned opportunity because Bethany "wanted" it, swayed by her theatrics and my family' s relentless pressure. That decision was the beginning of the end, leading to a life of quiet desperation, watching my dreams handed to my manipulative cousin while I was praised for my "understanding." It ended in a hospital bed, alone, broken, and dying, while Michael and Bethany planned their wedding. The cold, sterile memory of that flatlining heart monitor brought a wave of blinding nausea. But this time, it was different. This wasn' t a memory; it was a horrifying replay. "Actually," I stated, pulling my hand from Michael' s, my voice clear and steady as a bell, shocking everyone at the table, "I won' t be giving up the internship." A stunned silence fell, Bethany' s feigned sympathy replaced by immediate tears, Michael' s concern for her. My aunt snapped, calling me selfish, Bethany fragile. I pushed back my chair, declaring my decision was final, and walked out, leaving my untouched plate. This wasn' t a negotiation; it was a declaration of independence. The life they had planned for me was officially canceled. I sold my mother's jewelry, deleted Michael's texts, and applied to a university thousands of miles away. It was my second chance, a new beginning, and this time, I wouldn' t be a victim.

Introduction

The familiar scent of my Aunt Carol' s pot roast once symbolized family, now it was the smell of my personal hell.

My fiancé, Michael, sat beside me, urging me to eat, while my cousin Bethany feigned illness, subtly pressuring me to give up my Star-Tech internship for her.

In my first life, I capitulated, sacrificing my hard-earned opportunity because Bethany "wanted" it, swayed by her theatrics and my family' s relentless pressure.

That decision was the beginning of the end, leading to a life of quiet desperation, watching my dreams handed to my manipulative cousin while I was praised for my "understanding."

It ended in a hospital bed, alone, broken, and dying, while Michael and Bethany planned their wedding.

The cold, sterile memory of that flatlining heart monitor brought a wave of blinding nausea.

But this time, it was different.

This wasn' t a memory; it was a horrifying replay.

"Actually," I stated, pulling my hand from Michael' s, my voice clear and steady as a bell, shocking everyone at the table, "I won' t be giving up the internship."

A stunned silence fell, Bethany' s feigned sympathy replaced by immediate tears, Michael' s concern for her.

My aunt snapped, calling me selfish, Bethany fragile.

I pushed back my chair, declaring my decision was final, and walked out, leaving my untouched plate.

This wasn' t a negotiation; it was a declaration of independence.

The life they had planned for me was officially canceled.

I sold my mother's jewelry, deleted Michael's texts, and applied to a university thousands of miles away.

It was my second chance, a new beginning, and this time, I wouldn' t be a victim.

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On the night of my career-defining art exhibition, I stood completely alone. My husband, Dante Sovrano, the most feared man in Chicago, had promised he wouldn’t miss it for the world. Instead, he was on the evening news. He was shielding another woman—his ruthless business partner—from a downpour, letting his own thousand-dollar suit get soaked just to protect her. The headline flashed below them, calling their new alliance a "power move" that would reshape the city. The guests at my gallery immediately began to whisper. Their pitying looks turned my greatest triumph into a public spectacle of humiliation. Then his text arrived, a cold, final confirmation of my place in his life: “Something came up. Isabella needed me. You understand. Business.” For four years, I had been his possession. A quiet, artistic wife kept in a gilded cage on the top floor of his skyscraper. I poured all my loneliness and heartbreak onto my canvases, but he never truly saw my art. He never truly saw me. He just saw another one of his assets. My heart didn't break that night. It turned to ice. He hadn't just neglected me; he had erased me. So the next morning, I walked into his office and handed him a stack of gallery contracts. He barely glanced up, annoyed at the interruption to his empire-building. He snatched the pen and signed on the line I’d marked. He didn’t know the page tucked directly underneath was our divorce decree. He had just signed away his wife like she was nothing more than an invoice for art supplies.

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