His Ninety-Nine Betrayals, My Freedom

ielding, sliced through the rare peace of my Saturday morning. I was supposed to be finalizing

g to keep my voice level. "I'm leaving for t

l recovering from... everything. She needs a supportive presence. And frankly, your father

weak-willed echo of my mother's demands. He never stood up for me, never questioned her favoritism t

rfectly capable of charming her way through a room full of strangers. She always has

by the familiar, high-pitched wail. Kendal

edy, dripping with manufactured tears. "I'm heartbroken! Bryce lef

even after I ended our engagement. The depth of his cynicism, his calculated manipulati

ou didn't know exactly what you were doing. You always get what you want, don't

u speak to your sister like that! She's suffering! She's a divorcée now, after ev

rough with it. He had married Kendall. Just to help her get access to that exclusive psychiatrist. And now, he ha

ice trembling with suppressed fury. "And Bryce didn't 'put her through' an

across my cheek. I gasped, dropping my phone. My mother had slapped m

e, clearly intending to physically drag me to the gala. She was standing over me now, her hand still raised, ready to strike again. "H

izing betrayal. The mother who had always dismissed me, always favored Kendall, was now physi

l smile. You will act like a supportive sister. Or so help me, Amelie, I will personally ensure your sec

at. My own mother, threatening my career, my future, to force me into

man I choose for you. Someone respectable. Someone who can help your father's career. You will learn to be a proper

hose? Be a "proper wife"? My mother, who had never once valued my intellect, my ambit

l? Or the parents who had enabled it all, who had taught their children

the scent of expensive perfume and false smiles. I wore a simple black dress, chosen more for its anonymity than its eleg

small cluster of admiring women, dabbing at her eyes with a lace handkerchief, recounting her "heartbreaking ordeal" with Bryce. She l

ster instead, and then divorced her weeks later!" "Such a scandal. And Amelie just ran off to some secret government project. Probably unstab

g, a story where I was the conniving, unstable, career-obsessed woman who couldn't

sing down on my chest, making it hard to breathe. I had heard worse, of course. My mother's words from earlier still echoed in my ears, far more damag

mother had inflicted. I quickly wiped it away, forcing my face into a mask of com

disappear. I wanted to be on that remote desert base already, far away from the judging

es of my self-respect. It was a fragile thing, battered and bruised,