Chapter 8 - Vanessa’s Shattered Illusion
Inside the tiny room of the roadside motel,
the curtains were drawn tight against the harsh afternoon sun.
The room smelled of old carpet,
bleach,
and stale fast-food grease.
Vanessa sat on the edge of the saggy mattress,
her knees pulled up to her chest,
staring at her phone screen.
Every major social media platform she owned was exploding with messages.
Rumors had spread through her social circle like wildfire.
Her landlord had already posted an eviction notice on her apartment door downtown,
and a picture of the legal notice had been leaked to her friend group chat.
Her former college friends,
who had once envied her designer clothes and luxurious lifestyle,
were now sending icy,
mocking messages.
"Is it true you got evicted?"
"Did Eric really lose his job?"
"I heard Claire shut down your credit lines!"
Vanessa hurled her phone across the room,
watching it bounce off the faded wallpaper and land on the floor.
"I hate her!" Vanessa shrieked,
tears streaming down her face.
"I hate her so much!"
Eric sat in a plastic chair near the window,
staring blankly at the wall.
He hadn't shaved in two days.
His eyes were bloodshot,
and his expensive suit was crumpled and stained.
"Stop screaming,
Vanessa," Eric said,
his voice hollow and completely drained of energy.
"It doesn't change anything."
"You said you were rich!" Vanessa screamed,
turning on him with wild,
furious eyes.
"You told me you were the one managing the estate!"
"You told me Claire was just a boring housewife who sat around all day counting her grandmother's money!"
"You lied to me,
Eric!"
"I didn't lie!" Eric snapped back,
standing up from the chair.
"I managed the portfolio!"
"How was I supposed to know she had legal ironclad contracts on every single account?"
"She played quiet for fifteen years!"
"She let me sign the papers,
she let me handle the meetings,
she acted like she didn't care about the business!"
"Because she owned it!" Vanessa yelled back,
stepping off the bed.
"She owned everything,
and you were just her employee with a ring on your finger!"
"And now I am stuck in this disgusting bug-infested room with you!"
Eric looked at her,
his chest heaving,
a bitter grin forming on his lips.
"You weren't complaining when we were flying first class to Miami last month,
were you?"
"You weren't complaining when I bought you that five-thousand-dollar leather jacket on Claire’s card!"
"You loved the money,
Vanessa!"
"You didn't love me,
you loved her money through me!"
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Vanessa cried,
her voice breaking into hysterical sobs.
"I gave up my reputation for you!"
"My friends think I'm a monster!"
"My sister ruined my life!"
"Your sister didn't ruin your life," Eric said coldly,
leaning against the wall.
"We ruined it ourselves when we sent that text message."
"We thought we had the upper hand."
"We thought she was weak."
Vanessa stared at him,
the horror of their reality setting in deeper than ever before.
She pulled out her phone from the floor,
wiping the cracked screen with her sleeve.
With trembling fingers,
she opened a hidden messaging app and dialed a number she hadn't called in years.
She waited,
listening to the tone ring in her ear.
On the third ring,
the line picked up.
"Hello?" came my voice,
calm,
serene,
and completely unbothered.
"Claire..." Vanessa sobbed,
dropping to her knees on the dirty carpet.
"Claire,
please... please listen to me!"
"Vanessa," I said softly through the speaker.
"Why are you calling me?"
"Claire,
it was all Eric!" Vanessa lied frantically,
her voice dripping with desperate manipulation.
"He tricked me!"
"He told me you two were already getting a divorce!"
"He seduced me,
Claire,
he took advantage of me when I was vulnerable!"
"I never wanted to hurt you,
you're my older sister!"
"Please,
Claire,
tell the landlord to let me back into my apartment!"
"I have nowhere to go!"
There was a long silence on the phone.
For a brief second,
Vanessa thought her act had worked,
that the old,
forgiving Claire who used to solve all her problems would step in and save her.
Then,
I let out a soft,
quiet laugh.
"Vanessa," I said,
my tone lighter than air.
"You wore white to a Vegas chapel with my husband."
"You spent eight months in my bed while eating dinner at my table."
"And now that the money is gone,"
"you want to blame the man you stole."
"Claire,
please!" Vanessa wept.
"I am your sister! Blood is thicker than water!"
"Blood doesn't pay rent,
Vanessa," I replied smoothly.
"And as for Eric..."
"You wanted him so badly."
"You can keep him."
"He is entirely yours now."
CLICK.
The call went dead.
Vanessa slowly lowered the phone,
staring at the black screen as the final ray of hope extinguished in her heart.
She turned to look at Eric,
who was sitting back down in the plastic chair,
staring out the window into the dusty parking lot.
They were bound together now,
not by love,
May you like
not by romance,
but by the absolute ruin they had brought upon themselves.
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