THE PERFORMANCE
906 Words
The Sterling family dinner was Vanessa's idea.
"I want you to meet them," she said, when she came for her final fitting. "Daniel's mother. His father. The whole family." She looked at me, hopeful and nervous. "You're designing my wedding. You should be there."
I should be there.
In the same room as Marcus Sterling, who had threatened me. In the same room as Daniel, who had married me and forgotten me. In the same room as a family that had built an empire on lies.
"Vanessa—"
"Please." She touched my arm. "I know things are complicated. I know you have every reason to say no. But I don't have anyone else. My mother won't come. My father is... my father." She looked down. "You're the only family I have left."
The words landed somewhere soft.
She was right. Our father was useless. Her mother had spent decades pretending I didn't exist. Vanessa had spent twenty-six years doing the same. But now, somehow, we were the only family each other had.
"Fine," I said. "I'll be there."
---
The dinner was at the Sterling estate in Lake Forest.
It was the kind of house that belonged in magazines—stone walls, iron gates, a driveway that went on for what felt like miles. I parked my car between a Mercedes and a Porsche and tried not to feel like I didn't belong.
Vanessa met me at the door.
"You look beautiful," she said.
I was wearing black. Simple. Professional. Armor.
"You look nervous," I said.
"I am nervous." She looped her arm through mine. "Daniel's mother is... a lot."
"I've dealt with worse."
"Have you?"
I thought about Marcus Sterling. The way he'd said my mother's name. The way he'd smiled when he told me she died alone.
"Yes," I said. "I have."
---
The dining room was enormous.
A table that seated twenty. Crystal chandeliers. Paintings on the walls that probably cost more than my entire business. The family was already seated—Marcus at the head, Daniel to his right, a woman I didn't recognize on his left.
Daniel's mother.
She was beautiful in the way that expensive things were beautiful—polished, cold, carefully maintained. Her hair was silver-blonde. Her dress was cream-colored silk. She looked at me the way you might look at a stain on a new carpet.
"So," she said, "you're the wedding designer."
"Maya Chen," I said. "Yes."
"Vivian Sterling." She didn't offer her hand. "I hope you understand how important this wedding is to our family."
"I understand."
"Good." She turned to Vanessa. "Darling, you look pale. Are you eating enough?"
Vanessa's smile was strained. "I'm fine, Vivian."
"You don't look fine." Vivian signaled a server. "Bring her more wine."
I sat across from Daniel. He wouldn't look at me.
Marcus, though. Marcus looked at me the whole night.
---
Dinner was interminable.
Course after course. Conversation after conversation. The Sterlings talked about people I didn't know, events I hadn't attended, a world I had never been part of. Vanessa smiled and nodded and pretended she belonged.
I watched.
I watched Daniel kiss his mother's cheek. Watched Marcus hold forth about business deals and political connections. Watched Vivian criticize the flower arrangements, the seating chart, the color of Vanessa's dress.
This was the family Vanessa was marrying into.
This was the family that had used me and discarded me.
This was the family that was about to fall.
---
After dinner, Daniel found me on the terrace.
I was standing alone, looking out at the garden, trying to remember how to breathe.
"You shouldn't be here," he said.
I turned. "Vanessa invited me."
"Vanessa doesn't know what's good for her."
"She knows more than you think."
Daniel stepped closer. His face was tight, angry, nothing like the charming mask he wore in public.
"What do you want, Maya?"
"Right now? To finish this wedding and never see you again."
"You could have walked away. You could have taken the money."
"I could have." I met his eyes. "But then I would have had to live with myself."
Daniel laughed. It was an ugly sound.
"You think you're better than me?"
"I think I'm not you." I turned back to the garden. "That's enough."
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, "My father was right about you."
"Was he?"
"You're dangerous." Daniel's voice was cold. "You're going to destroy this family."
"Your family was destroyed long before I came along." I looked at him. "You just didn't want to see it."
---
Vanessa drove me back to my car.
"I'm sorry," she said, as we walked through the dark driveway. "I shouldn't have asked you to come."
"Someone had to."
"Did you see the way his mother looked at me?" Vanessa's voice was small. "Like I was something she stepped in."
"I saw."
"She's never going to accept me. None of them are. I'm not... I'm not what they wanted for him."
"What did they want?"
"Someone richer. Someone with better connections. Someone who could help the family instead of just... being there."
I stopped walking.
"Vanessa," I said, "why are you marrying him?"
She didn't answer.
"Is it love? Or is it because you're scared of being alone?"
Vanessa looked at me. Her eyes were wet.
"I don't know anymore," she whispered.
I reached out. Took her hand.
"Then maybe you shouldn't," I said.
- Writer
