, my father had sai

r family

ores, the one who got into a prestigious

ichest businessman in our small town.

scores, the one who failed

ace people whispered about. He was rumored to be a

ning, a cold dread c

family discussion

ved this

t one, the hardworking one. I go

marry David. She couldn't handle i

some, successful

e became attent

child, he pushed me from the

ca would be alive!" he'd screamed, his

dar

iving it again. Bu

ould not marry

eant marryin

lready working his angles. He sec

r to win. Or

the one that could have secured me

e old town library, said he had s

as a

in the library's basement c

of reach, left in my bag in th

my throat was r

ed the

led. Marriage t

her hands, her face pale. My father jus

reless, Sarah? So irres

aid, his voice flat. "Alway

e had her acceptance letter to a good

ey all expected me to break dow

lm. I started pac

eant avoiding Mark, meant

that first li

e wedding to Mark,

lson, her husband in that life, just disappeared aft

ith me, his cloying attent

cy. His rage. Th

Not

dress, Mark himself a

ome, concerned.

oth and worried. "You can't go

to take

y. "It's dec

have to be. We

, my face blank. "Th

had engineered this outcome. H