Jessica had always been optimistic, but now her voice was trembling, on the verge of
tears.
My heart ached for her.
L
It’s hard to admit your own family doesn’t
love you.
“Jess, do you want to cut ties with them?”
“Live for yourself for once?”
Jessica laughed weakly.
“Emily, they can use me to threaten you once,
and they’ll do it again and again.”
“You take care of yourself.”
“I have to get married anyway. Might as well
be to anyone.”
L
Then she started crying.
It wasn’t “just anyone.” Generations of our
family had worked to escape poverty.
She shouldn’t be forced back into it because
of a dowry.
I clenched my fists. “Jess, listen to me, okay?
Put Dad back on the phone.”
There was a long silence before she finally
whispered, “Okay. I’ll listen to you.”
My dad’s voice came through. “Emily, we
need money. Your cousin Michael needs
<
money to get married. We can’t miss this
opportunity.”
“If you just stay out of our way, we’ll leave
you alone.”
“You don’t have to take care of your sister
anymore.”
“You’re free, Emily.”
They’d found a way to make money.
So, I was expendable.
As long as I didn’t interfere, they’d let me go.
<
I should be grateful.
“Take Jessica to my old office and leave her
with Ashley. Then I’ll delete the videos.”
“And as long as you leave me alone, I won’t
interfere with anything you do.”
“Fine! Just wait and see. We’ll be rich, and
you’ll be left with nothing,” my dad snarled.
I hung up and immediately called Ashley.
An hour later, I deleted the videos.
The next day, Jessica arrived in Montana and
L
burst into tears as she hugged me.
I told her to rest, to take some time for
herself. We’d figure things out later.
Right now, she needed to be happy. Time for
some bonfires.
Sarah and her family posted more videos,
including their disabled children.
They tried to play the victim card, but the
internet wasn’t buying it.
They tried to go viral through controversy, but it only resulted in negative attention. People blocked their videos, marked them as “not
<
interested.”
They tried selling products, had decent sales,
but then the returns came flooding in
99% return rate.
– a
No company would work with them again.
Apparently, they even had to pay penalties for
breaching contracts.
Then, my dad contacted me again.
“Emily, can you post an apology video? We
need to improve our image, get more
exposure.”
<
exposure.”
I was speechless.
Apologize for what?
What had I done wrong?
All they cared about was making money. They
didn’t give a damn about me.
I refused.
I posted the recordings of both phone calls
online with the caption: “My cousin Jessica is
safe now. Please don’t fall for their scams.”
<
Sarah’s accounts were shut down again.
This time, I didn’t even have to report them.
It was entirely the work of internet vigilantes.
I heard Sarah went into premature labor from
the stress, and Mark wandered around my old
apartment complex with a knife for two days,
terrifying my mom into submission. She was
trapped taking care of Sarah and the kids.
Good thing I ran when I did.
Mark’s world revolved around his mother and
Sarah. He only listened to them.
く
Two years later, I got my CPA license, my
construction management certification, and
my counseling license.
Thanks to my memory, studying for exams
wasn’t difficult. I’d already gotten a head
start in college.
