Chapter 6 - The Condo on English Bay
The townhouse sale closed three weeks later.
My $180,000 came back in full — every dollar of principal, interest, and legal cost.
Because Marcus's extra borrowing had chewed through so much of the remaining equity, he had to sell the lake house too, just to satisfy another lender standing in line behind me.
The dealership folded. His college buddy sued him over debts Marcus had never disclosed. Dad came out of retirement and took a project-management job to keep the lights on.
They held onto the duplex. Barely.
Eight months after that, I bought a bright two-bedroom condo with a view of English Bay — paid for with money I had earned, protected, and never needed anyone's permission to own.
Eventually a text came in from my mother.
We miss you.
I wrote back four words.
I hope you're well.
Nothing else.
For the first time in my life, my peace didn't come from finally earning my family's approval.
It came from giving myself my own.
May you like
That summer I stood on my balcony and watched the city light up along the water, and I understood something I'd had backward for years. Revenge was never about watching them lose everything.
It was realizing I no longer had to be the daughter who kept rescuing people who only knew how to love sons.
