The Sister I Raised Took My Bed And My Man Chapter 05

The Sister I Raised Took My Bed And My Man Chapter 05

It was the security camera footage from my front 

door. 

July 14. 1:20 a.m. My twelfth day away on the 

project. 

The foyer light was on. Ivy walked out of the 

bedroom in my silk slip, climbed straight into Julian’s 

lap, and kissed him on the jaw. 

His hands found her waist. They tangled their way from the living room clear back to the bedroom door. 

The video kept going, frame by frame. 

July 15, just past midnight. They were kissing on 

the balcony. Right in front of the flowers I’d planted. 

The yard erupted. 

My aunt Linda was the first to crack. She slammed 

her handful of trail mix onto the table. “Ivy, what is 

this? Your sister’s boyfriend, how the hell is he yours now? Have you lost all shame?” 

My aunt Patricia shot to her feet, her voice cutting through the chaos. “Last Christmas, Elena brought him 

here. I gave him a Christmas card with cash in it. Six 

months later, he’s here with you?” 

“Ivy Vance. Your mom and dad died young. Nobody 

was around to teach you right from wrong, so your sister raised you herself. And this is how you repay her? You go after your own sister’s man?” 

The color was gone from Ivy’s face. All that careful makeup and all I could see was humiliation. 

Her lips were trembling. Tears were falling in big, 

ugly drops. “No… I…” 

But she couldn’t form a single defense. 

Because it was all there. Every frame. Everything 

she’d done. 

That was her climbing into his lap. That was her 

tipping her head up and kissing his jaw. That was her 

standing in front of my flowers, kissing my boyfriend. 

All of it was her. 

“What’s ‘no‘? Is that some ghost in the video instead of you?” My aunt Catherine slammed her 

teacup onto the table. “I’ve walked this earth over fifty years, and I have never… never seen anything like this. Two sisters clawing over the same man. If your mama were alive, this would put her right back in the 

ground.” 

Julian whipped his head toward me, his eyes blazing. “Turn it off. Who told you to play that? Elena, you’re insane.” 

I didn’t move. I didn’t blink. “What’s the matter? You could do it but you can’t stand to be seen?” 

“You two spent two months stomping all over my heart, and now you bring him here for Grandma to meet? What were you expecting? My blessing?” 

Julian clenched his fists and stepped forward like he had more to say. Aunt Linda shoved him back. 

“And you. You walk around looking like a decent man. I fixed you a plate last Christmas. Now you can’t even stand there and look me in the eye, can you?” 

“You went through two sisters like they were nothing, like you could just swap one out for the other. What the hell is wrong with you? You make me sick.” 

Julian stumbled backward and crashed into the table. A teacup tipped and spilled cold tea all down 

his pants. 

Ivy swiped at her tears and whirled on me. She jabbed her finger in my face, her voice pitching into something raw and hysterical. “You bitch. You had this ready the whole time. You were just waiting to 

humiliate me, weren’t you.” 

That was the match that lit the rest of them on fire. 

“Stop making a scene. You’ve got the nerve to blame her? What has she ever done except try to help 

you? Did someone force you to do the things in that video?” 

Ivy’s face twisted. The rage of being publicly 

stripped of her mask was written all over it. 

“Yeah. I did it. So what?” 

Her voice was jagged and splintering. 

“I am so sick of her handing me everything. The more 

she gives, the more I feel like a worthless piece of trash. 

All of you just stand around talking about how hard she 

worked to raise me. What about me? You think it was 

easy being raised by her?” 

Her eyes were so red they looked ready to bleed, but 

there was this unhinged grin tugging at the corner of 

her mouth. 

“Elena, haven’t you always given me everything? 

Then give me the man too. You’re so great. So selfless. What’s one more thing?” 

“You used to hand things over so easily. Why are you holding back now? Can’t keep up the act anymore?” 

The whole yard froze. 

Nobody had expected that. 

I shut my eyes hard. All I felt was this hollow, 

desolate cold. 

Aunt Patricia was shaking. She lunged forward to slap her. 

Ivy shoved her hand away. “Don’t touch me. What gives any of you the right to judge me? Which one of you ever took care of me for a single day?” 

“She’s the one who raised me. But only because she owed me. She owes me her life. So I took one man. So what?” 

“Are you finished?” 

I pulled in a breath, forced down the ache in my chest, and walked over to stand in front of Ivy. 

“Ivy Vance.” 

“Your heart really was damaged because of me. That’s true. And that’s why I paid off every maxed–out card. That’s why I tracked down every guy who screwed you over. That’s why when your marriage fell apart, I was the one who brought you home.” 

“I carried you for twenty–four years. And I never once threw it back in your face.” 

I crouched down until our eyes were level. 

“But hear this. I raised you because you’re my sister. Not because I owed you.” 

“You asked me why I stopped giving in. Fine. I’ll tell you. I used to give in because you were my sister. I’m done giving in because you’re not worthy of it 

anymore.” 

“You’ve been cashing in that debt for twenty–four years. You’ve gotten everything you could out of it. From today on, you don’t exist to me.” 

Her pupils contracted. Her lips shook like she’d been slapped. 

I didn’t wait for her. I stepped around her, crossed 

the yard, and headed for the gate. 

“Elena!” Her voice broke into something jagged 

and desperate. “Elena Vance! Stop. Don’t you walk 

away from me.” 

I didn’t stop. 

Behind me, a chair hit the ground. Something else 

toppled over. 

She was screaming. Cursing. The sounds all bled 

together until I couldn’t tell one from another. 

The sun was sharp enough to sting my eyes, but for the first time in a long time, I felt something like calm. 

I would never shed another tear for either of those two people.