Chapter 1 - The Staircase
My sister was still in her wedding dress when she shoved me down the stairs over our father’s inheritance. One second, I was gripping the dark wooden handrail in the bright white foyer, trying to leave before the argument became something uglier. The next, both of Victoria’s hands slammed into my back, and the staircase disappeared beneath me.
I hit the first step with my shoulder. Then another. My foot twisted, my breath vanished, and the marble floor at the bottom blurred beneath the chandelier light. I heard Victoria above me, her voice sharp enough to cut through the pain.
“Dad’s money is for my wedding!”
I landed crooked across the lower steps, one hand still locked around the railing because some instinct inside me refused to let go. For a moment, I could not speak. The foyer was too bright. The open front door let in clean suburban daylight, and somewhere outside, a dog barked like the world had not just changed.
Victoria stood at the landing in her white gown, chest heaving, blonde hair pinned perfectly above a face twisted with fury.
“You shoved me,” I gasped.
She stepped down one stair, pointing at me. “You were supposed to give it up!”
Then the front door burst wider.
Two EMTs rushed inside, followed by a police officer. The lead EMT saw me on the stairs and shouted, “Ma’am, don’t move!”
Victoria’s fury collapsed into panic.
The officer looked from me to her. “Did you push her?”
Pain burned through my back, but my mind went suddenly clear. I looked toward the responders and said, “She attacked me over the inheritance.”
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That was the moment Victoria finally understood.
This was no longer a family fight.
