Chapter 5
Sabrina sank into a chair.
“Logan is my brother?”
Victoria shook her head too fast.
“Half brother. It’s different.”
Sabrina made a small choking sound.
“Different?”
I felt the room tilt.
The wedding.
The money.
Raymond’s sudden return.
Victoria’s desperation to put him beside Sabrina.
It all had a shape now.
Ugly and impossible.
I asked, “Who is Logan’s father?”
Victoria looked at the floor.
Sabrina whispered, “Mom.”
Victoria’s voice was barely audible.
“Raymond.”
I gripped the counter.
Sabrina stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“You let me get engaged to my brother?”
“I didn’t know at first.”
“At first?”
Victoria started crying.
“I gave him away. I was young. Raymond said no one could know. Years later when you met Logan, I recognized Lydia at the engagement dinner. I realized who he was.”
Sabrina looked sick.
“That was eight months ago.”
Victoria said nothing.
“You knew for eight months?”
“I tried to stop it.”
“You planned the whole wedding!”
“I was trying to manage it.”
“Manage incest?”
Victoria slapped her.
The sound cracked through the kitchen.
I moved before thinking.
I caught Sabrina as she stumbled.
Victoria stared at her own hand, shocked by herself.
Then she pointed at me.
“This is your fault.”
I looked at her like she had become a stranger wearing my wife’s face.
“No. This is the first thing today that is not my fault.”
Sabrina held her cheek.
Tears ran down her face.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Victoria whispered, “Because Raymond said Logan’s family would destroy us.”
“Logan’s family is his adoptive family.”
“They have power.”
“And I have a right not to marry my brother!”
Her voice broke on the last word.
My anger shifted.
For all her cruelty, Sabrina had also been betrayed.
Used.
Lied to.
Trained to value money over love by the woman who feared truth more than sin.
I put my hand on Sabrina’s shoulder.
She did not pull away.
Victoria noticed.
Her expression twisted.
“Don’t act like a hero, Glenn. You were happy being useful.”
That one landed.
Because it was true enough to hurt.
I had confused being needed with being loved.
But not anymore.
I called Helen.
“Cancel the wedding,” I said.
Sabrina whispered, “Wait.”
I turned to her.
She wiped her face.
“No. Don’t cancel it.”
“What?”
Her eyes were red, but something hard had entered them.
“Let everyone come.”
Victoria stared.
May you like
Sabrina looked at her mother.
“If you wanted a stage, Mom, you can have one.”
