Chapter 2

Cindy felt nervous as she walked up the wooden stairs. Her mother had called everyone into the living room, which was unusual, and you could just feel the tension in the air. Her sisters, Linda and Marcy, were standing, giving her a look that could kill. Cindy knew something was definitely wrong. Her heart pounded as she walked into the living room and looked around. The room, suddenly felt small and heavy with whatever was about to happen.

“Come on, sweetie, sit next to me,”, Helen, said. Her voice was surprisingly warm and motherly, which was rare. The 18-year-old wasn’t used to her mother being so gentle, and she paused before sitting down, her body stiff with nerves.

“Cindy, your dad and I have something important to talk to you about,” Helen said, still using that loving tone Cindy had rarely ever heard. Her dad, Ernest, just nodded, like he already knew what this was all about.

“Did I do something wrong, Mom?” Cindy’s voice shook as she looked back and forth between her parents and her sisters, hoping for a sign that everything was okay.

“No, Cindy, you’ve done nothing wrong,” Helen promised. She glanced at her husband, then looked over at her other daughters. “This is about something else entirely.”

The room fell totally silent. You could just feel the weight of what was about to be said.

“We’ve decided to get you married,” Helen finally said. Her voice was calm, even though she had just dropped a total bombshell.

“What?” Cindy, Linda, and Marcy all shouted at the same time. You could see the shock on their faces.

“I know this is a surprise,” Helen went on, her expression softening a little as she looked at how stunned they were. “But you’ve gotten a marriage proposal, and it’s from a family we just can’t turn down.”

Linda and Marcy shot each other a look of pure disbelief, their eyes going wide as Helen said who the guy was.

“It’s Jake Brown, Olivia Brown’s son,” Helen announced. You could hear the pride in her voice.

Linda’s face twisted in disbelief. “This is insane! I’m the oldest! I should be the one getting married first, not Cindy!” she snapped, her voice dripping with bitterness. “What did you do, you little witch? Sleep with him? Put a spell on him or something?”

Marcy jumped in, her voice full of scorn. “She probably snuck out and hooked up with him, just like she does with other guys. God knows how many boys she’s messed around with just to get someone like Jake to look at her!”

A hot rush of tears blurred Cindy’s vision, and her voice came out as a shaky whisper. “I didn’t do anything,” she said, shaking her head as she looked desperately from her mother to her father. “I swear on my life. I don’t even know who Jake is. I’ve never even met him, or his mom, Olivia. I wouldn’t even recognize him if he was standing right here.”

Linda’s face was twisted with pure rage. “You’re such a liar!” she screamed. She lunged forward, her hand raised high, ready to slap Cindy right across the face.

But then, crack!

The sound echoed in the suddenly silent room. It happened so fast. Helen’s hand had shot out and connected with Linda’s cheek.

Linda froze, her hand dropping from the air to cup her own red cheek. She stared at her mom, her eyes wide with a mix of pain and total disbelief, as if she couldn’t understand what had just happened. For a second, no one moved or even breathed.

Then, a single tear slid down Linda’s face, then another. She let out this choked sob, stumbled back a step, and then turned and ran from the room, her footsteps pounding up the stairs.

Marcy, who had been ready to back Linda up, just stood there with her mouth slightly open. She looked from her crying sister to her stone-faced mom, and without a word, she turned and hurried out of the room after Linda.

The silence they left behind was heavy and uncomfortable. Helen took a deep breath, and it was like a switch flipped. The anger was gone. Her face softened as she turned back to Cindy, who was still frozen on the couch.

“Don’t you pay any attention to your sisters,” Helen said, her voice now low and eerily calm. “They’re just jealous. This proposal is a wonderful opportunity. This isn’t just a marriage for you, sweetie; it’s a better future for this whole family. You have to accept it.”

The way she said it, so matter-of-factly, sent a chill down Cindy’s spine. It wasn’t a request; it was an order.

Cindy just sat there, feeling so small. Her mind was a blur of her sisters’ angry faces, the sharp sound of the slap, and her mother’s cold, final words. What could she even say? What could she do? Feeling completely trapped and overwhelmed, she gave a tiny, numb nod. It was like her head was full of static, and she couldn’t think or feel anything at all.

Upstairs, the door to Linda’s bedroom was shut tight. Linda was lying face down on her bed, the sound of her crying muffled by her pillow. Marcy sat on the edge of the mattress, rubbing her back and whispering, “I can’t believe she did that. In front of everyone.”

The door creaked open and Helen stepped inside, closing it softly behind her. Her face was a hard, unreadable mask.

“Alright, that’s enough,” she said, her voice low but firm. “Stop that crying, both of you. And listen to me. There’s something you don’t know about this whole proposal.”

Linda’s crying stopped instantly. She slowly pushed herself up, her face blotchy and her eyes red and swollen. “What do you mean?” she sniffled.

Helen walked over and sat in the chair by Linda’s desk, leaning forward like she was about to share a huge secret. “My meeting with Olivia Brown wasn’t just a friendly chat. She made us an offer.”

Linda and Marcy just stared at her, waiting.

“An offer for Cindy,” Helen continued. “A financial one.”

“What are you talking about, Mom?” Marcy asked, confused.

Helen took a deep breath, and you could see the dollar signs in her eyes. “You two listen carefully? Olivia Brown is going to pay us five million dollars ... for Cindy to marry her son.”

The room was completely silent for a few seconds as the number hung in the air.

Linda’s jaw dropped. “Wait ... what?” she whispered, wiping a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. “Are you serious? Five million dollars? With an ‘M’?”

“That’s right, Linda,” Helen confirmed, a small, satisfied smile playing on her lips.

“But ... why?” Linda pressed, her voice a mix of shock and jealousy. “Why would she pay that much money for Cindy? She’s not special. She’s not even that pretty. What could she possibly want with her?”

Helen waved her hand, dismissing the question completely. “I don’t know, and I honestly don’t care,” she said sharply. “Who cares what her reasons are? Think about what five million dollars means for us. We can get out of this town. Buy a real house. You two can have anything you want. No more pinching pennies. That money sets us up for life.”

She leaned in closer, her eyes gleaming. “And who knows,” she added, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “This is just the beginning. Cindy might be our ticket to even more wealth, if we play our cards right.”

A slow, wolfish grin spread across Helen’s face. It wasn’t a smile of happiness; it was a smile of pure, cold calculation.

Linda looked at Marcy, her own shock melting away and being replaced by the exact same greedy look. The slap, the tears, all of it was forgotten. A matching grin crept onto her face, too. Then Marcy’s. In that moment, the three of them were a team, united by a single, greedy thought.

Her heart still pounding from the fight, Cindy needed to get away. Her feet felt heavy as she walked down the hall to Paul’s room, the one place in the house where she felt safe. The muffled, chaotic sounds of a TikTok video bled from under his door, a world away from the cold, tense silence in the living room. She knocked softly before pushing the door open.

Paul was sprawled on his bed, his tablet propped on his knees, the blue light flickering across his face. He was so caught up in whatever he was watching that he didn’t notice her at first. She just stood there in the doorway, a ghost in her own home. Finally, a small sniffle escaped her, and his head snapped up. His smile from the video faded the second he saw the look on her face.

“Cindy? What’s wrong?” He immediately sat up and switched off the tablet, tossing it aside. Without another word, he held his arms open for her.

That was all it took. She practically fell into his embrace, burying her face in his shoulder as the tears she’d been holding back finally came. He was just her little brother, but his hugs were the only thing that ever felt like a real home. In his simple, innocent love, all the sharp edges of her mom and sisters seemed to melt away for a minute.

“Thanks, Paul,” she whispered into his t-shirt, her voice thick with emotion.

He held her for a moment longer before pulling back just enough to look at her. “Seriously, what happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Cindy wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She hesitated, the whole story feeling too big and crazy to say out loud. But the weight of it was crushing her, and she couldn’t carry it alone. She took a shaky breath.

“Mom and Dad called us all into the living room,” she began, the words coming out in a jumbled, tearful rush. She told him everything, the sudden announcement, Linda’s furious outburst, the awful things they’d accused her of, and the stinging slap that still echoed in her mind.

Paul listened, his face growing more and more serious. When she was done, he didn’t focus on the fight or the drama. He cut right to the heart of it. “So, you’re getting married. To a guy named Jake. Do you ... do you even like him?” he asked, his eyes searching hers for an answer.

“That’s the thing, Paul. I don’t know,” she admitted, her voice barely a whisper. “I have no idea who he is. I’ve never even met him.”

A determined look crossed Paul’s face. He was always the problem-solver. “Well, let’s fix that.” He grabbed his tablet again, his thumbs flying across the screen. “What’s his last name?”

“Brown. Jake Brown.”

“Okay,” Paul mumbled as he typed. “Here he is ... Jake Brown, son of Robert and Olivia Brown.” He turned the screen toward her, his voice full of excitement. “Check it out.”