Chapter 2 - The Whispers in the Back
Table 42 was located right next to the kitchen swinging doors.
It was the ultimate insult in the world of wedding seating charts.
But I didn't mind it one bit.
I took my seat gracefully.
A waiter immediately rushed over to pour me a glass of premium water.
My distant cousins stared at me in absolute awe.
Cousin Greg leaned across the cheap floral centerpiece.
"Did you really just tell Uncle Richard you make two hundred grand?" he whispered.
"Two hundred and ten," I corrected gently.
Greg let out a low whistle.
"He is going to absolutely lose his mind."
I picked up my water glass.
"He already has."
The wedding ceremony began twenty minutes later.
I watched from the very back row.
Olivia walked down the aisle looking like a nervous wreck.
Her fake smile trembled every time she glanced toward my side of the room.
My father looked like he was marching toward his own execution.
He couldn't stop sweating.
Every time a guest whispered to another guest, my father flinched.
He knew exactly what they were whispering about.
The story of the neglected daughter who secretly became a Silicon Valley millionaire was too juicy to ignore.
It was spreading through the guest list like wildfire.
When the vows were exchanged, I felt absolutely nothing.
I didn't hate my sister.
I just simply didn't care about her anymore.
She had spent twenty-four years treating me like dirt.
Today was the final day I would ever let her.
As the guests transitioned to the cocktail hour, my phone buzzed in my purse.
It was a text from my new boss, Mr. Sterling.
"Hope the wedding isn't too agonizing. We need you in San Francisco by Tuesday."
I quickly typed out a reply.
"I'll be on the Monday morning flight."
Before I could put my phone away, a shadow fell over my table.
I looked up.
My father was standing there.
His face was a mixture of desperation and greed.
"Maya," he said softly.
"We need to talk privately."
"I'm perfectly fine talking right here, Dad."
He gritted his teeth.
"Now, Maya."
He gestured toward an empty hallway near the coat check.
I stood up slowly.
I smoothed out the skirt of my emerald dress.
I was ready to hear whatever ridiculous thing he was about to say.
I followed him into the dimly lit corridor.
He immediately rounded on me.
"If you are really making that kind of money, you owe me," he stated flatly.
I genuinely laughed out loud.
"I owe you for what, exactly?"
"For raising you!" he snapped.
"And for Olivia's wedding!"
I crossed my arms over my chest.
"You want me to pay for Olivia's wedding?"
"I'm eighty thousand dollars in debt for this party," he confessed angrily.
"You need to write me a check today to cover it."
May you like
I stared at him in pure disbelief.
The audacity of this man was truly limitless.
