Chapter 5 - The Collapse
Eighteen months passed.
Ruth’s Bakery had expanded to twelve employees, catering corporate events for tech companies, and grossing over six figures a month. Marcus and I bought a beautiful four-bedroom craftsman home in Eastmoreland with a lush garden where I planted my grandmother’s favorite hydrangeas.
My life was peaceful, productive, and entirely free of my family's toxic gravity.
Then, on a cold Tuesday afternoon, my bakery’s business line rang.
My shift manager picked it up, then looked over at me in the kitchen. "Athena? It’s a woman claiming to be your aunt... Aunt Karen? She says it’s an urgent medical emergency."
I paused, wiping flour off my arms. I took the receiver. "Aunt Karen?"
"Athena! Oh thank god you answered!" Aunt Karen’s voice was breathless, manic, and shrill. "I had to track down your business number because your mother said you blocked everyone!"
"What's wrong?" I asked calmly.
"It’s your parents! They’re about to lose the house! The bank served them an eviction notice this morning! Gerald’s pension was mismanaged, Brad lost his sales job six months ago so Clarissa and the baby moved back in with them, and they are $50,000 in arrears on their mortgage refinancing!"
I stood in my quiet kitchen, listening to the frantic background noise of Aunt Karen’s kitchen.
"$50,000?" I repeated flatly.
"Yes! If they don't get the money by Friday, the sheriff is foreclosing! They will be on the street, Athena! Your mother is having panic attacks, your sister is beside herself—they need you!"
There it was.
The emergency voice.
The same shape. The same panic. The same silent demand that Athena fix what others broke.
"Where is Brad’s networking money?" I asked quietly.
"What?" Aunt Karen blinked.
"Clarissa’s birthday party," I reminded her, my voice cold as winter ice. "The one they skipped my wedding for. Brad was networking. Did that not pay off?"
"Athena! How can you be so cruel at a time like this?!" Aunt Karen gasped. "You’re a rich business owner now! I read about your bakery in the paper! You have the money! You have to give them the $50,000!"
"I don't have to do anything, Aunt Karen," I said softly.
"They are your family!"
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"Family comes to your wedding," I said. "Tell them to call Brad."
I hung up the phone.
