Chapter 2 - The Sister's Confession
The next morning, the sky was a bruised, heavy gray.
Jasper insisted on taking the day off work. He drove Eleanor and me to the county courthouse downtown. By 11:00 AM, a judge had reviewed the hospital medical reports, the documented assault marks, and Eleanor's sworn affidavit, officially issuing an emergency temporary restraining order prohibiting my mother and father from coming within five hundred feet of me, Jasper, or our home.
When we stepped out onto the courthouse steps, a silver sedan was parked idling at the curb.
The driver's side door opened, and Delaney stepped out.
She looked entirely different from the girl who had lounged carelessly on my parents' couch four days ago. Her hair was pulled back into an messy knot, she wore no makeup, and her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen. She held a thick paper coffee cup in her shaking hands.
Jasper immediately stepped in front of me, his body rigid.
"Jasper, wait," I murmured, touching his arm. "Let me talk to her."
Delaney walked up the stone steps slowly, stopping three feet away from us. She looked at Eleanor, then at me, her lower lip trembling.
"Did you... did you get the order?" Delaney asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Yes," I replied coldly. "Mom and Dad can't come near us."
Delaney swallowed hard, letting out a ragged breath. "Good. They shouldn't."
I stared at my younger sister. For twenty-six years, I had resented her. I had hated the way she effortlessly absorbed all the light in our home while I sat in the shadows. But looking at her now, I saw a girl who looked completely shattered.
"Why did you call Eleanor, Delaney?" I asked. "You could have stayed quiet. You could have stayed Mom's golden child."
Delaney looked down at her shoes, a single tear cutting through the pale skin of her cheek.
"Because when she hit you... I heard the noise it made, Whitney," Delaney sobbed, covering her mouth with her hand. "I heard her hand hit your stomach. And then I looked at Dad... and Dad just sat there in his chair. He didn't move. He didn't even blink."
She looked up at me, her eyes filled with profound horror.
"I realized in that exact second that our whole life was a lie," Delaney whispered. "Mom doesn't love me, Whitney. She uses me. She’s been telling me for three years that I needed to freeze my eggs, that I needed to go on dates with rich guys from her country club, that I had to 'save the family.' I thought she just wanted me to be happy. I didn't know about the trust money until Eleanor told me last night."
Eleanor stepped forward, resting her cane against the stone pillar. "Your mother used you as a pawn, Delaney. She built a wall of fake affection around you to keep you dependent on her."
"I went back to their house yesterday to pack my clothes," Delaney confessed, her hands shaking so violently she dropped her coffee cup onto the stone steps. "I told them I was moving out. I told them I knew what Mom did."
"What did Mom say?" I asked, my heart pounding.
Delaney let out a bitter, broken laugh. "Mom didn't deny it. She screamed at me. She called me an ungrateful brat. She said if I didn't help her fix this, if I didn't convince you to drop the police report, she would disown me too."
Delaney stepped closer to me, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a small, black digital voice recorder.
"I recorded the whole argument, Whitney," Delaney said, handing the device to me. "Mom admitted everything on this tape. She admitted she struck you. She admitted she wanted to force you to miscarry so the trust money wouldn't go to you and Jasper."
Jasper took the recorder, his jaw clenching so hard the muscle in his cheek bulged.
"Why are you giving this to us, Delaney?" I asked softly, tears burning my eyes.
May you like
Delaney looked at my stomach, then met my eyes with a raw, desperate sincerity I had never seen from her before.
"Because you're my sister," Delaney cried softly. "And because that baby inside you is the only innocent thing left in this family. I don't want the trust money, Whitney. I don't want Mom's love anymore. I just want to help you protect your child."
