In the pictures, my aunt was draped in a custom-made wedding gown, leaning happily against my father’s arm, while Grandma stood nearby, her smile so wide it deepened every wrinkle on her face.
Barely a year later, the news broke again that my aunt had given my dad a son. My dad was over the moon, and he booked a hundred tables for the baby’s monthsary. Online, people called it karma, said he deserved the blessing of a son.
Then they turned on me. They said I was the kind of person who’d never even be served eight dishes at a meal in this lifetime.
At school, people also pointed and whispered when I walked past. Once they realized I’d never inherit our family fortune, they kept their distance. They said anyone who could turn her back on the stepfather who raised her had no conscience and wasn’t worth befriending.
Having heard those rumors, Pansy, my best friend, was furious on my behalf.
“I don’t believe for a second you’re ungrateful,” she said, clutching my arm. “But seriously, what now? Billions just slipped away! I still don’t get what you were thinking. Even if you wanted him to have his own child, you didn’t need to go so far as making a public announcement that you were cutting ties.”
I just sighed, but still said nothing.
Seeing me still not explaining, she threw her hands up in exasperation. “I swear, I’ll never understand you. What exactly happened between you and your dad? Why won’t you just tell me?”
Not long after, tragedy struck, and my dad died suddenly of a heart attack.
My aunt and Grandma called, insisting I come home for the funeral.
Pansy, worried they might try something, insisted on coming with me.
When we arrived, the truth came out. They hadn’t called me home just to mourn. They wanted to settle my father’s estate.
The company’s accountants worked day and night for a week to tally it all up, and the amount my father had left behind was over a billion in cash. On top of that, he’d always loved buying real estate. Now we had properties scattered all over the world.
Pansy clutched her head in anguish. “Mirabelle, I told you not to be stupid! Now look. If you hadn’t cut ties, all of this would’ve been yours!”