“Not leverage exactly. Just an opportunity to remind them that people they overlook might be more important than they realize. Your family, especially Victoria, seems very invested in status and success. What if you suddenly had access to that world through me? What if they had to see you differently?”
I should have said no. I should have thanked him for the thought but explained that revenge wasn’t my style, that I was above such pettiness. But standing there in the morning light, remembering every slight and dismissal from the night before, something darker whispered that maybe I deserved a little vindication.
“This feels manipulative,”
I said slowly.
“Is it more manipulative than seating you behind a pillar at your own sister’s wedding? Than never mentioning you have a sister to colleagues she worked with on planning? Than your mother pretending you don’t exist in her speeches?”
Julian’s voice was passionate now.
“Sometimes the people who hurt us need to be shown consequences. Not cruelty, just consequences.”
“What would this actually look like? I’m not going to sabotage anyone’s business or career. I’m not that person.”
“Nothing like that. I’m talking about visibility. About making sure you’re present and acknowledged at future family events. About your sister and mother realizing that dismissing you means potentially damaging relationships that matter to Gregory’s career. About you finally getting the respect you deserve, even if it starts from a place of obligation rather than genuine affection.”
It was twisted logic, and I knew it. But it was also seductive. How many years had I spent being invisible? How many family gatherings had I endured being treated as lesser? The thought of Victoria being forced to acknowledge me, to include me, to treat me like I mattered, it was intoxicating.
“I need to think about this,”
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