Chapter 6 - THE SCREAMING CALL
Ten seconds after I sent the ocean photo, my phone rang again.
It was Madison. This time, I hit 'Accept' and placed the call on speakerphone.
"YOU DISGUSTING, EVIL SISTER!" Madison's voice screeched through the speaker so loudly it vibrated the glass table. She was crying so hard she was hyperventilating. "WHERE ARE YOU?! WHERE IS THE FOOD?! WHERE ARE THE FLOWERS?!"
"I’m in Galveston, Madison," I said, my voice completely relaxed, almost melodic. "The ocean breeze is lovely today."
"YOU CANCELED MY WEDDING!" she screamed. "EVERYONE IS STANDING AROUND IN AN EMPTY HALL! DEREK’S MOTHER IS CRYING! THERE ARE TWELVE KIDS RUNNING AROUND SCREAMING BECAUSE THEY'RE HUNGRY! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME ON MY SPECIAL DAY?!"
In the background, I could hear absolute bedlam. My mother yelling at a venue worker, children shouting, and my father frantically trying to order fifty delivery pizzas over his phone.
"I didn't cancel your wedding, Madison," I corrected her gently. "The venue is paid for. The officiant is there. You can still get married. You just don't have my money paying for your luxury party anymore."
"YOU PAID FOR IT AS MY GIFT!" she howled.
"A gift is given out of love and mutual respect," I replied coldly. "Not extracted through financial manipulation while you plot to lock me in a back room as unpaid help."
The line went dead silent for two seconds.
"You... you heard?" Madison's voice suddenly lost all its sharp rage, turning thin and frightened.
"I was standing right outside your backyard gate, Madison," I said, letting the weight of every single word sink into her chest. "I heard you laugh. I heard Derek call me useless. I heard Mom call my boundaries a character defect. And I heard you say that nobody was coming to see me anyway."
A sharp gasp came over the line—my mother had clearly been standing next to Madison, listening on speaker.
"Claire... honey..." Mom’s voice broke in, sounding desperate and terrified. "We were just joking! You know how stress gets before a wedding! We didn't mean any of it!"
"You meant every word, Mom," I said smoothly. "You've meant it my entire life. I was always the daughter you used to subsidize Madison's dreams. You thought because I hate public confrontation, I would just sit in that room with twelve children, swallow my pride, and let you humiliate me again."
"Claire, please!" Mom begged, shedding real tears now. "Fix this! Call the caterers! Use your credit card to pay for a emergency buffet! We will pay you back, I swear to God we will pay you back! People are leaving!"
"You don't have the money to pay me back, Mom," I said plainly. "And even if you did, my money is no longer available to this family. You built a trap for me. I simply stepped out of it and left you standing in it alone."
"You ruined my life!" Madison screamed back in the background. "I will NEVER forgive you for this! NEVER!"
"Good," I said softly. "Because I’m never coming back."
I hung up the phone.
I immediately opened my provider settings, tapped 'Block Contact' on Madison, Mom, Dad, Derek, and every single relative who had been present in that backyard conversation.
May you like
Then I set my phone down, took a deep breath of the salty ocean air, and picked up my book.
Two hundred miles away, the Bennett family was serving lukewarm delivery pizza on paper towels to seventy-five guests dressed in formal attire, while the bride sat in a back room, her cream dress stained with tears, realizing that her "useful" little sister was gone forever.
