They Played a Game to Make Me Beg, I Played a Game to Make Me Gone Chapter 07

They Played a Game to Make Me Beg, I Played a Game to Make Me Gone Chapter 07

After that recording exposed everything at the engagement party, my family’s world fell apart. The discovery that Savannah wasn’t blood-related, the scheming about drugging someone, all of it

became the hot topic at every family dinner we weren’t at.

Dad got taken in for questioning by the police. Derek cut ties instantly. In one brutal sweep, twenty. years of Savannah lording it over everyone came crashing down.

Two weeks. That’s all it took. The girl who lived to torment me was gone. I barely recognized what

was left.

She locked herself in her bedroom. No talking. No going out. No socializing. Her emotions swung

wildly. She couldn’t sleep. She’d cry for no reason, scream, break things.

The doctor diagnosed her with severe depression. Normally, Mom would’ve been a frantic mess, chasing down every specialist in town.

But now, she had bigger problems. She didn’t have time to coddle Savannah’s moods. She used the “we raised you for twenty years” card and begged Savannah to drop the charges.

Day after day, they sat across from each other, crying and tearing each other apart. Savannah finally caved. Three days later, Dad came home.

But the moment she saw him, something in Savannah snapped. She only got worse. More unhinged by the day. And my parents? They were breaking under the weight of her-exhausted, frayed, running on empty. The house became a nonstop war zone.

Out of options and out of people to blame, they dumped all the blame on me. Mom and Dad complained to anyone who would listen.

“If Natalie wasn’t so stubborn, if she’d just let things go instead of tearing this family apart, none of this would’ve happened. I don’t care if she ran off to Milan or the moon. She has to come back and take responsibility!”

They talked a big game, but they couldn’t find me and they couldn’t reach me. So they resorted to the ugliest method possible. They stormed right into the office of my old company.

At first, my coworkers and bosses were polite. They knew they were dealing with my family. Jessica stepped in and tried to reason with them.

“Natalie doesn’t work here anymore. She’s in Milan now-signed a ten-year contract. She can’t just pack up and come back. And even if she could? Her contact info is private. We’re not handing

that out.”

My parents refused to listen. They showed up every single day, blocking the office lobby. They were

there to make a scene, and they weren’t subtle about it. They brought a megaphone. “You drag/ Natalie back from Milan, or we’re not going anywhere!”

Their harassment was disrupting the entire company. Jessica updated me on the situation. I didn’t hesitate. I told the company one thing.

“Call the police. If once doesn’t work, do it twice. If twice doesn’t work, do it three times That’ll

calm them down.”

With my go-ahead, the company stopped playing nice. The next time my parents showed up causing a scene, security detained them and handed them straight over to the cops.

After a few repeat performances, my dad got scared of the real legal trouble and didn’t dare go back.

When that got them nowhere, they switched gears. Somehow, they got hold of my new number.

They started texting me nonstop. This time, there were no insults, no threats. They lowered their

voices into the most pitiful, pleading tone, trying to convince me to come home.

[Natalie, we know we messed up. We shouldn’t have gone along with Savannah’s pranks all those

years. We shouldn’t have laughed it off like it was nothing, while you were suffering.]

[At the end of the day, you’re our real daughter. Savannah’s gotten so much worse. She’s talking about swallowing pills, trying to hurt herself. We’re too old to handle her meltdowns. You’re her sister. Please, just come home and handle her.]

The apology messages kept coming, one after another, filling up my screen. Buried in the begging was a thin layer of something that looked like affection. They’d never spoken to me this gently

before.

I replied with only a few sentences.

[I made a dozen copies of that recording. If I get one more text from you, I’m sending a copy to

everyone back in your hometown. Your friends. Your coworkers. Every single one.]

Instant silence on the other end. I stared at the blank screen and felt nothing but disgust. For years,

they let Savannah tear me apart.

They took the most humiliating moments of my life, turned them into a highlight reel, and served them up for public entertainment like I was a circus clown. But the second their own dirty laundry was on the line? They panicked.

They’d always known exactly how deep that kind of humiliation cut. They just never cared.