Until then, some of them could pretend there had been a booking error.
Ethan’s answer revealed that he knew exactly where I was and expected me to solve the humiliation he had created.
My mother returned to the call.
“Alyssa, can you tell the courier to take this away?”
“No.”
“People are staring.”
“I know what that feels like.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Do not punish me because you and your brother cannot get along.”
“You guaranteed the loan.”
“I signed a paper to help you with your taxes.”
“No.
You signed a repayment agreement.”
“It was not meant to be used.”
“Then why did it have a repayment date?”
She had no answer.
The courier asked her to sign for the envelope.
She refused.
Ethan told him to leave the property.
The villa manager intervened and explained that the delivery had been ordered for a registered guest and contained no dangerous material.
The bride accepted it herself.
Paper tore.
I heard her reading the first paragraph in silence.
Then she said, “Thirty days?”
“Yes,” I answered.
Ethan grabbed the phone.
“You’re suing us over a joke?”
“I’m collecting a loan after you demonstrated what my generosity means to you.”
“You gave us that money.”
“I have six emails where you called it a loan.”
“I was being polite.”
“You signed the agreement.”
“Mom said it wasn’t real.”
Behind him, someone gasped.
He had just admitted that both of them knew about the document.
My attorney later called it an unforced error.
I called it Ethan being Ethan.
He had spent so long escaping consequences that he no longer recognized danger when he created it himself.
His bride asked for the phone.
When she spoke, her voice was controlled.
“Alyssa, did you really pay all seventy-seven thousand?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know you weren’t invited?”
“No.”
“I am so sorry.”
Ethan muttered something beside her.
She turned away from him before continuing.
“I was told you chose not to come.”
“I chose the flowers.
I chose the photographer.
I bought a dress.”
There was a long silence.
“I know,” she said finally.
“You sent me a picture of it.”
That was the first apology I received that weekend.
It did not repair anything, but it named the wound honestly.
