The night before the SAT, my mother told me to deliberately destroy my future so my twin sister could learn to appreciate hers.
Chapter 3
The gala was held in the ballroom of a downtown hotel overlooking the Seattle skyline.
I wore a tailored navy suit, low heels, and the Vanguard executive badge David had given me that afternoon. Under crystal chandeliers, investors and recruiters moved from table to table while a jazz trio played near the windows.
An older investor named Harrison shook my hand.
“I read your market-modeling paper,” he said. “Impressive work.”
“Thank you.”
“Vanguard grabbed you before anybody else could.”
“I’m glad they did.”
Then I heard shouting near the entrance.
I knew my mother’s angry voice before I saw her.
“We are her family!”
My body went cold.
Dad stood beside her, grayer than I remembered. Mark wore an expensive-looking suit and the familiar expression of a man trying to charm someone into giving him what he wanted.
Behind them stood Yvette.
For a second, the sight of my twin knocked nineteen years out of me.
Then I looked closer.
She seemed exhausted. Her dress fit poorly. Her face was pale beneath heavy makeup, and a folder of résumés trembled in her hands.
Apparently, she had received admission to the recruitment portion of the event and brought the entire family for support.
They moved through the ballroom.
One recruiter after another turned Yvette away.
Then Mark spotted the Vanguard banner.
He guided everyone directly toward me.
I could have hidden.
I didn’t.
Mom saw me first.
She stopped.
Dad nearly walked into her.
Mark followed their gaze.
Yvette’s face emptied of color.
Nobody spoke.
I took a sip of sparkling water.
“Hello, Mom. Dad. Mark. Yvette.”
Mom recovered first.
“You.”
She marched forward and raised her hand.
Four years earlier, I would have flinched before she even swung.
This time I caught her wrist.
Her eyes widened.
“Don’t,” I said quietly.
She tried pulling free.
I released her.
“There are cameras everywhere. If you hit me, security will remove you and the police may become involved. I assume that isn’t how Yvette wants to introduce herself to recruiters.”
Mom stared as though I had become someone frightening.
I had not.
I had merely become someone she could no longer frighten.
Mark studied my suit, badge, and the people waiting behind me.
“Natalie? What are you doing here?”
“Working.”
“You were supposed to go to Uncle Ray’s company.”
I laughed softly.
“You still believe that?”
Dad stepped forward.
“You got a zero on the SAT. You couldn’t have gone anywhere.”
A voice came from behind me.
“Actually, she went pretty far.”
David joined us.
He rested a hand lightly against my shoulder.
“Everything okay?”
“Old acquaintances.”
He smiled politely at them.
“Natalie is graduating with honors from the University of Toronto and joining Vanguard full-time as a data engineer. She has already led work on several high-value projects.”
Silence.
Yvette stared at me.
“But you failed.”
“No.”
I looked at Mark.
“He made me fail.”
Yvette turned toward him.
“What?”
“The pens.”
Mark stiffened.
I continued.
“He gave me disappearing-ink pens before the SAT so my answer sheet would become blank.”
Yvette’s expression changed.
“Mark?”
He avoided her eyes.
“But it didn’t matter,” I said. “I had already been accepted to Toronto through a scholarship admissions program. I left the morning all of you drove Yvette to college.”
Mom’s shock became fury.
“You lied to us?”
I almost smiled.
“You were trying to sabotage my education.”
“We fed you!” she shouted. “We gave you a roof!”
“A storage closet.”
People nearby had begun listening.
I no longer cared.
“You abandoned me in public so Yvette could learn not to wander off. You let people terrorize me so she could learn to avoid trouble. You tried to destroy my SAT because you wanted my failure to motivate her.”
Mom’s face reddened.
“We were trying to help your sister.”
“I know.”
Those three words silenced her.
“That’s the problem.”
Yvette was crying now.
I looked at her.
“You didn’t create this, Yvette. You were a kid too. But somewhere along the way, you started enjoying it.”
She lowered her eyes.
“When they humiliated me, you watched. When they gave you everything and handed me leftovers, you smiled. When they told me to throw away my future for yours, you said you’d work hard so my sacrifice wouldn’t be wasted.”
“I was seventeen.”
“So was I.”
Mark stepped between us.
“All right. You’ve made your point.”
His voice changed.
Soft.
Warm.
The old voice.
The one he used after every act of cruelty.
“Natalie, listen. We made mistakes.”
I stared at him.
“We’re proud of you.”
Four years ago, those words might have destroyed me.
Now they sounded like an opening move.
Mark continued.
“Yvette is having a difficult time. She may lose her degree. Recruiters have heard about the plagiarism situation.”
There it was.
“She needs help getting started. Nothing huge. Maybe an entry-level position.”
I actually laughed.
“You want me to get Yvette a job?”
“You’re twins.”
Dad nodded.
“Family helps family.”
Mom folded her arms.
“You owe your sister something after disappearing for four years.”
For one second, the absurdity was almost beautiful.
I looked at Mark.
“Do you remember the cake?”
His smile faltered.
“What?”
“After my SAT score came out. You brought me cake and told me I had to make sacrifices because I was older.”
“Natalie, that was years ago.”
“You said I should be used to it.”
He looked away.
“I threw the cake in the trash.”
“So?”
“So I eventually realized I could throw away everything attached to it.”
Mark’s expression hardened.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
I held out my hand toward Yvette.
“May I see your résumé?”
Hope flashed across all four faces.
Yvette handed it over.
I scanned it.
Her academic performance was mediocre. The plagiarism investigation was absent. Her listed technical abilities were basic.
I handed it back.
“I cannot recommend her.”
Mom gasped.
“You haven’t even considered it!”
“I just did.”
Yvette’s face twisted.
“You think you’re better than me now.”
“No.”
I met her eyes.
“That was the game they taught us. I’m not playing it anymore.”
She crumpled the résumé.
“I hate you.”
“You’re allowed to.”
“You ruined everything!”
“No, Yvette. For once, something happened in your life that had nothing to do with me.”
She lunged toward me.
Security intervened before she reached me.
David immediately signaled to the head guard.
“These people need to leave.”
Dad protested.
Mom screamed that I was an ungrateful daughter.
Yvette sobbed while security escorted them toward the exit.
Mark stayed behind a moment longer.
He looked at me with genuine disbelief.
His kindness had always been his strongest weapon.
Now it did nothing.
“You really don’t care about us anymore,” he said.
I considered the question.
“I care enough not to lie.”
His eyes searched my face.
“For years I thought if I became good enough, quiet enough, useful enough, you would stop hurting me.”
Mark said nothing.
“But you never wanted a sister. You wanted a tool.”
His face tightened.
“We loved you.”
“You loved what I did for Yvette.”
I stepped closer.
“And when I stopped doing it, Mom announced publicly that she didn’t have a daughter named Natalie.”
Mark’s gaze dropped.
“So I finally believed her.”
Security approached.
Mark straightened his jacket.
“You’ll regret this.”
Maybe once I would have.
That night I didn’t.
I watched him leave through the ballroom doors after the rest of them.
For the first time in my life, my entire family walked away from me.
And I did not chase them.
