No more family pressure disguised as patience.
The first scheduled payment was due soon.
I hadn’t changed the deal.
I had simply stopped pretending it didn’t exist.
Ethan came back on the line.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“Where am I supposed to get this money?”
“That was a question to ask before you spent it.”
“You knew I couldn’t pay you immediately.”
“Which is why there’s a schedule.”
“I just got married.”
“I noticed.”
He made a sharp sound through his nose.
“You’re jealous.”
That surprised me.
Not because it was cruel.
Ethan had always been good at finding the accusation that protected him from examining his own behavior.
It surprised me because of how weak it sounded.
“Jealous of what?”
“That everyone is here with me and you’re sitting alone in Naples.”
I let the silence stretch.
Then I said, “Ethan, you arranged that.”
He didn’t have an answer.
Mom took the phone back.
Her voice was smaller now.
“Can we talk about this when you come home?”
“We are talking about it.”
“Privately.”
I looked at the cousin’s photo again.
The giant frame stood in the lobby beside a floral arrangement I’d paid for.
Mom’s hand was pressed to her mouth.
Ethan’s new wife stood a few feet away, looking confused.
Other relatives had clearly gathered around.
I hadn’t told them anything.
I hadn’t posted screenshots.
I hadn’t made a public speech.
All I’d done was send one document to the place where Ethan had made my absence public.
“Mom, did you know before I left that he sent me the Naples itinerary?”
She didn’t answer.
“I asked you a question.”
“I knew there was some joke.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did you think the joke was?”
“Ethan said you’d realize before you got there.”
I closed my eyes.
That explained her pause when I’d called from the hotel.
She hadn’t discovered the prank after the fact.
She had known there was a plan to misdirect me.
“And when I didn’t realize?”
“Alyssa—”
“When I landed in Naples wearing a dress for his welcome dinner, what exactly did you think would happen?”
Her voice broke.
“I thought you’d take the train.”
“To Florence?”
“Yes.”
