***
Morning found me in the kitchen, holding a mug of coffee while Ben paced in front of me like a captive tiger. “That was sick,” he muttered. “Showing up like that?
The guy’s clearly still obsessed with you.”
I looked up slowly. “He said you’re not who I think you are.”
Ben let out a short, brittle laugh. “Because I’m marrying you and he’s not?
That’s textbook projection, Hannah.”
Ben stopped pacing. He placed his hands on the back of a chair and fixed me with the kind of look a lawyer gives a jury. “Don’t let him screw with your head, Hannah.
You’re better than that. You know who I am. You’ve lived with me, slept beside me, built a life with me.” His voice dropped lower.
“Jake’s just the guy who ran. He’s obviously the type who talks big and bolts when someone calls his bluff.”
That afternoon, Sophie answered her door in sweatpants and a stained T-shirt. Her eyes were red, and she looked like she hadn’t slept either.
I crossed my arms in the doorway, not quite ready to go inside. “You should have told me you’d invited Jake.”
Sophie nodded miserably. “I know.
I ran into him three weeks ago at that coffee shop downtown, and he said he had to warn you about something. He seemed genuinely concerned about you.”
Sophie shrugged, then reached for her phone on the entryway table. She scrolled through something and held it out to me.
“You want his number?”
I stared at the screen. Ten digits that could either answer everything or destroy what was left of my life. I texted Jake immediately and arranged to meet him at a park the next day.
He was already there when I arrived. “You said Ben isn’t who I think he is,” I said, skipping any greeting. Jake nodded.
“He’s not.”
“Then tell me who he is.”
Of all the things I’d imagined he might say, that wasn’t one of them. “We share a father. I found out through one of those DNA matching services two years ago.” He sat down on a bench, and I sat beside him, leaving space between us.
“I reached out. I was excited, you know? I’d always wanted siblings.
We met for coffee.”
“And?”
“He agreed to meet, but when I showed up, he wasn’t there,” Jake continued. “I thought he’d bailed. Then I got home, and he was waiting outside my apartment.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“What did he want?”
“He told me that I didn’t deserve to have a good life, that it was unfair. I thought he was just some angry, damaged guy. I didn’t take him seriously.
That was my mistake.”
“Everything fell apart. I lost my job — budget cuts, they said, but I’d just gotten a stellar review. My landlord suddenly gave me 30 days to move.
Clients I’d had for years started dropping me, no explanation. It was like someone had systematically dismantled my life.”
I felt sick. “You think Ben did that?”
“I know he did.
Do you remember that night we watched the fireworks by the river?”
I nodded. Of course, I remembered the last night I’d seen him before he disappeared. My hands were shaking.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jake’s voice cracked. “Because I was terrified. Of him.
Of what he’d do to you. I thought he’d stop if I listened to him and left, that he’d leave you alone.” He turned to me, and I saw tears in his eyes. “I never expected him to pursue you.
When I saw your engagement announcement online, I felt sick. I had to come back to warn you.”
When I arrived home that night, the apartment was dim, just the TV flickering blue light across the living room. Ben sat on the couch, looking perfectly calm.
I stood in front of the TV, blocking his view. “I spoke to Jake today. He told me everything.”
Ben didn’t even flinch.
“So he fed you his sob story.”
“Is it true?”
Ben leaned back and studied me. His gaze sharpened, and I saw a coldness in his gaze I’d never noticed before. “He had everything.
I had nothing. All I did was balance the scales.”
“You made him lose everything.”
Ben tilted his head. “Siblings are supposed to be equal, aren’t they?”
“That’s not equality.
That’s cruelty.”
“He didn’t deserve you, but I do. Before me, you were just going through the motions, but I gave you ambition. I made you better.”
I recoiled.
“You didn’t love me. You acquired me.”
“Call it what you want. I’m the one you said yes to.”
I pulled off my engagement ring.
The diamond caught the TV light as I placed it carefully on the coffee table. Ben didn’t move. He just watched me with those cold, empty eyes.
“You’ll regret this.”
“I already don’t.” I grabbed my purse and walked out. I went straight to Sophie. She didn’t ask questions, just pulled me inside and held me while I cried.
“I screwed everything up,” Sophie whispered. I leaned my head on her shoulder. “No.
You saved me from marrying someone who never really loved me.”
She squeezed my hand, and something that had been tight in my chest finally loosened. Sophie helped me set up tables in the morning sun. My mother kept touching my shoulder like she needed to make sure I was real, that I was okay.
Then Jake arrived. He stood at the gate, holding a small gift box, looking uncertain. “I’m not here with expectations,” he said.
“Just relief. That you know.”
I walked over to him and took the box. Inside was the leather bracelet I’d given him years ago.
I looked at him and saw our past clearly. The good parts and the painful parts, the love and the loss. And I knew with absolute certainty that I was finally free of it.
“Keep it,” I said. “It looks better on you anyway.”
Sophie called my name from across the yard, and I turned to see all the women I loved gathered around the tables. Share this story with your friends.
It might inspire them and brighten their day.
