Chapter 3

Vanessa stayed the entire afternoon.

She didn't mention money again, nor did she attempt any more sisterly bonding.

Most of the time, she just sat there silently, watching me clean the apartment with an unreadable expression.

Toward dusk, her phone rang. It was her son.

She cooed into the receiver, speaking in a sweet, gentle tone, promising she'd fly back tomorrow to be with him.

Once off the call, she stood up, wearing an expression of grand resolve.

"Maya, about the house. Let's go to the title office tomorrow to handle the transfer. Don't worry—once the house sells, we'll split the proceeds fifty-fifty."

She delivered the line with righteous magnanimity, as though she were making the ultimate personal sacrifice.

I paused my cleaning and looked up at her.

"No need."

"What do you mean, no need? Don't be polite with me!"

"We're sisters! I saw how hard you worked. You deserve half of this house!"

She raised her voice, making sure the entire room heard how generous she was being.

"I said, no need."

I repeated myself, flat and emotionless.

"Mom left the house to you. I don't want it. I'll sign whatever title release you need, but on one condition."

Vanessa stiffened. "What condition?"

Instead of answering, I walked into the bedroom and retrieved a manila binder.

This was what I had put together over the last few nights.

I dropped it on the coffee table and shoved it in front of her.

"Look through this first."

On the very first page was a printed Excel spreadsheet.

Every expense from 2018 to last week was categorized with surgical precision.

Prescriptions, caregiving, hospital deductibles, groceries, medical supplies...

Every entry had a date and an exact dollar amount down to the cent.

At the very bottom, highlighted in bold red font, was the final balance.

Vanessa's eyes glued onto that number, and her complexion turned far worse than before.

"What... what is this supposed to mean?" Her throat sounded parched.

"It means every dime I advanced for Mom is recorded right here."

I flipped to the next section, revealing the matching photocopies of invoices, organized in the exact order of the ledger.

"Every single penny has a paper trail."

Vanessa's hands began to shake. She flipped frantically through the binder, trying to spot a flaw, an inflation, anything.

She found nothing.

I had always been meticulous—perhaps the only lingering trait from my corporate days.

"Maya! Are you out of your mind?!"

She finally exploded, slamming the binder down onto the glass table with a deafening crack.

"Are you insane?!" she shrieked.

The crash of that binder on the table snapped the fuse I had suppressed for six long years.

"Pick. It. Up."

I shot to my feet, my sudden roar startling even myself.

Looking down at the pages scattered across the rug—the records I had logged line by line, night after sleepless night—my voice finally cracked with rage.

"You think taking care of Mom was just my job? What about your job?"

"Where were you when I resigned from my career to watch her twenty-four hours a day?"

"Where were you when she became incontinent and I had to wipe her down three times a night?"

"Where were you when she had a manic episode at 3 a.m., screaming and trying to jump out the window, and all I could do was pin her down and cry with her?"

My voice escalated, completely unhinged from its usual calm.

Six years of suffocating injustice found its breach.

"You only checked in over quick FaceTime calls, posting pictures on Ins of what award your son won or what luxury bag you bought!"

"Vanessa, ask your damn conscience: did you fulfill a single day of your duty as a daughter in the past six years?!"

Vanessa stood tongue-tied, her face flushing crimson, then deathly white.

She had never seen me like this.

To her, I was always the docile, quiet, submissive little sister she could walk all over.

"I... I had my own struggles! My husband works long hours, my kid was small, I couldn't just walk away!"

She defaulted back to her well-rehearsed excuses.

"Struggles? Who doesn't have struggles?!"

I pointed at the dented wall, trembling.

"Do you know how that got there? Mom bashed her head against it!"

"When she flared up, she didn't recognize anyone. She only wanted to hurt herself."

"I couldn't hold her back. I had to watch her crack her own forehead open until blood dripped onto the floor! Where were your struggles then?!"

Vanessa had no retort. Her lips quivered, but her hand quietly slipped into her jacket pocket, fishing for her phone.

Right then, heavy footsteps echoed outside the hallway, and several relatives barged through the open front door, led by Aunt Brenda.

"Good grief, what is going on here? You two are sisters, why are you screaming like enemies?"

Brenda immediately jumped into mediator mode, though her eyes were glued right onto Vanessa.

I caught on in an instant.

Vanessa had called in her cavalry.

Sure enough, the moment Vanessa saw them, tears gushed down her face as she threw herself into Brenda's arms.

"Brenda! You have to help me!"

"I came back out of the goodness of my heart to see Mom and split the house sale with Maya! But she won't accept it—she pulled out a stack of fake bills to extort me!"

"Mom barely just passed, and all Maya cares about is shaking me down for cash! How can she be so cold-blooded?!"

She sobbed convincingly, playing the wounded martyr.

The relatives instantly turned judgmental eyes on me.

"Maya, this is way out of line. Your sister is trying to give you money, why are you cornering her like this?"

"Exactly. Blood is thicker than water. Keeping score over pennies ruins families."

"Caring for your own mother is just what children do. How can you use that as blackmail against your sister?"

Accusation after accusation flew at me like knives.

Standing alone in the center of the room, I was instantly cast out.

Looking at their self-righteous, disappointed faces, a laugh threatened to escape me.

The timing was so perfect, their united front so rehearsed. How could I not see it?

A freezing detachment replaced my burning rage. I inhaled deeply, wiped the tears off my cheeks, and regained total composure.

"Since everyone is here, perfect. You can all be witnesses."

I scooped the binder off the table and stepped toward them.

"I am not blackmailing anyone. I am simply reclaiming the money I advanced out of my own pocket."

I scanned every single relative, letting my eyes settle on Vanessa.

"Mom left the house to you. I don't want a single cent of it."

"However, before I sign off on the deed and hand you that house clean and clear, you will pay me back every dime you owe me."