PART 2
“Are you truly throwing me out?” I asked, my voice trembling. “After everything I sacrificed for all of you?”
Sheila gently rubbed her pregnant belly and stared at me with open contempt.
“Stop acting like you’re the victim, Summer. You went to prison because you chose to,” she said.
A hollow, painful laugh escaped my lips.
“Why did I choose that? Austin was the one driving my car against traffic on the main road. You were sitting beside him. Both of you were drunk after leaving a party. You hit a man and fled the scene. Did you forget already?”
Austin’s face lost all its color.
“Be quiet, Summer,” he snapped through clenched teeth.
“No. I stayed silent for two years,” I replied. “I confessed to the police because you dropped to your knees and begged me to take the blame.”
My mother burst into tears, though they were not for me. She cried because the truth had finally been spoken.
“Sweetheart, Austin had a heart condition,” Abigail wept. “If he had gone to prison, he wouldn’t have survived. Besides, he had only just married Sheila. You were unmarried, you were strong…”
“Strong?” I cut in. “I sold my car to compensate the victim’s family. I lost my career, my reputation, and two years of my life.”
Lawrence finally stood up from the couch.
“That’s enough,” my father shouted. “Don’t come back here making demands. This family suffered because of you too. The neighbors whispered about us every time we went to the market. Having a daughter in prison brought us nothing but disgrace.”
That was the moment I finally understood. I was no longer his daughter. I was simply his embarrassment.
“Austin was the one who struck that man,” I said.
My brother balled his hands into fists.
“I already thanked you,” Austin muttered. “What else do you expect? Are you trying to destroy my future now that I’m about to become a father?”
Something inside me shut forever.
“All I ever wanted was my family,” I whispered.
Nobody responded. Sheila picked up the forty dollars from the table and shoved the bills into my palm.
“Here,” Sheila said with a smug grin. “Take this so you can’t accuse us of being heartless. Now leave before you make a scene. Pregnant women shouldn’t deal with stress.”
I stared into her face. This was the same woman who had wrapped me in tears two years earlier, promising she would never forget what I had sacrificed.
“One day, every one of you will regret this,” I said.
Sheila burst into laughter.
“Regret getting rid of a jobless ex-con? Come on, Summer. Be serious.”
I picked up my suitcase and walked away without turning around.
After several blocks, I found a cheap motel close to the subway station.
Inside that tiny room, I cried for the first time since leaving prison.
But the tears did not last long.
I pulled out my phone, opened my banking app, and checked my balance. Ten million dollars appeared on the screen. That fortune had not come from my relatives. It had come from Raymond Dalton, the wealthiest businessman in the state.
During a massive fire inside the prison, I had rescued his only daughter, Samantha. She had been trapped inside a room filled with smoke. I carried her into the prison yard before collapsing beside her.
Three days afterward, Mr. Dalton came to see me in the infirmary.
“You saved my daughter,” he told me. “Once you’re released, your life will begin again.”
He honored every word he spoke. That very night, I received a text from Samantha.
“I heard you’ve been released,” the message said. “Meet us tomorrow at ten for coffee downtown. Dad and I have something we’d like to offer you.”
I stared at the screen without another tear. My family had closed one door in my face, but someone far more influential was preparing to open another far greater one.
