“Then why didn’t you simply tell Olivia?”
Jake’s expression suddenly changed.
“Melissa asks me about work constantly. Specific clients, campaigns, presentations…”
He stopped.
“Oh God.”
I looked at him.
“Your boutique’s new marketing campaign closely resembles a confidential strategy Meridian developed for the Stratton account.”
Melissa waved the accusation away.
“They’re common marketing ideas.”
“No,” Jake replied. “The targeting method was proprietary. Olivia designed it.”
Melissa’s irritation turned into arrogance.
“So I borrowed a few ideas. That’s how business works.”
“That may qualify as corporate theft,” I said.
My father looked physically ill.
“You used Jake to obtain information from your sister’s company?”
“I didn’t steal anything. He shared it because he loves me.”
Jake stood.
“I shared those details because I trusted you. I thought you cared about my work. I never imagined you were using me to monitor your sister.”
For the first time, my family could no longer dismiss the situation as a misunderstanding.
I told them this was not about one dinner or one employee. It was part of a pattern that had shaped our entire lives.
Melissa rolled her eyes.
“Here comes perfect Olivia.”
“I’m not perfect. I’m simply tired of being blamed for things that never happened.”
Then I mentioned my Harvard application.
My mother looked confused.
“What about Harvard?”
During my final year of high school, I had been placed on the waiting list despite excellent qualifications. Later, I learned that someone had called the admissions office, pretended to be me, and withdrawn my application.
The call came from our family home while I was away at a debate competition.
Melissa had been the only person there.
My father turned toward her.
“Did you do that?”
After a long silence, she nodded.
“Everyone was proud of her. She was going to leave, and I would be forgotten.”
My mother covered her mouth.
“How could you?”
“It worked out,” Melissa insisted. “She attended another good university.”
“That is not the point,” my father said. “You intentionally damaged your sister’s future.”
I continued.
Melissa had also forged diary pages to convince my high-school boyfriend that I had cheated on him. Two weeks later, she began dating him herself.
She had spread rumors about my work ethic when our grandfather considered offering me a position in his consulting firm.
She told Jake I had been removed from our grandparents’ trust for disrespecting them.
My mother immediately corrected her.
“The trust was divided equally.”
Jake looked at Melissa with growing disgust.
“Have you been creating a fictional version of your sister throughout our entire relationship?”
Melissa began crying.
“You don’t understand. She was always the perfect one.”
“I was never perfect,” I said. “I was simply living my life while you turned me into the villain of a story I didn’t know you were telling.”
