Chapter 10

Chapter 10

SARA'S POINT OF VIEW

I pushed the front door open and walked into the house. I felt so tired after everything that happened today. The car ride home with Max was... crazy. I couldn't stop thinking about how Eva's face looked when she saw me standing next to Max, holding his hand. It felt so good, like I was on top of the world. But now that I'm home, I just want to talk to my mom. She's always been there for me, helping me plan everything.

I found her in the living room, waiting for me. Her eyes were shining, like she couldn't wait to hear what happened. "Well?" she asked, sounding super excited.

I threw my bag on the couch and ran my fingers through my hair. "It went perfect," I said, smiling so big my face hurt. "Max is totally on my side now. And Eva? She's just... broken."

Mom's smile got even bigger. She stood up and walked over to me, looking at me like she was so proud. "You did so good, honey. You finally showed Eva where she belongs."

I felt so happy hearing that. I've been working on this for years, and now it's finally happening. It's everything I ever wanted. "Max believes everything I told him," I said. "He thinks Eva's just a liar who only wants his money and his grandpa's power. He doesn't trust her at all anymore."

Mom looked so proud of me. "That's my girl. I always knew you could bring her down. You made Max doubt her, and that's the most important thing. Now, we just need to make Max work with us."

I sat down in the big chair, feeling so relieved. "He'll come around," I said. "It won't be long before he realizes I'm the one he should be with. We can build something amazing together."

Mom nodded and poured herself some wine. "You're right. But we can't get lazy now. Eva still has that look in her eyes. That stupid hope. We need to crush it completely."

I watched her take a sip of wine, her fingers tapping on the glass. "We need to make the gap between them so big that they can never fix it," she said.

I leaned forward, wanting to hear more. "What's the plan?"

"We make sure Max sees Eva for what she really is - weak, not trustworthy, not good enough for his love or protection." She smiled in a mean way. "We'll use the news. We'll tell stories about her, spread rumors. We'll make sure everyone knows she's just a gold-digger who doesn't deserve Max."

I grinned. "What about Dad? He's already starting to lose faith in Eva. I've been working on him for months, and he's finally starting to see how bad she is."

Mom waved her hand like it wasn't important. "Your dad doesn't matter. He'll follow whoever has the power. Once we have Max fully on our side, your dad will do what we want. Trust me."

The way she sounded so sure made me feel better. She's always been the one with the big plans, teaching me how to play this game. Together, no one can stop us.

I grabbed the wine glass she left on the table and took a big drink. The wine tasted bitter, but it felt like we were celebrating. "To us," I said, holding up my glass.

"To winning," she said back, clinking her glass against mine.

We sat there quiet for a bit, both of us just enjoying the feeling of winning, knowing that we finally put Eva in her place. But as we drank our wine, I started thinking about what to do next.

Max. He's the most important part of all this. If I can make him totally turn against Eva, make him see that I'm the one who really cares about him, then everything will work out perfect.

"I need to hang out with him more," I said, breaking the silence. "Make him trust me completely. If he sees that I'm the one who's always been there for him, he'll turn away from Eva for good."

Mom nodded like she thought it was a good idea. "Yes. And once you've got him, you'll have everything you've ever wanted."

I smiled, thinking about how my life was going to be. Max by my side, Eva kicked out and embarrassed, everything I've ever dreamed of finally coming true.

But then, suddenly, the front door slammed open so hard it hit the wall with a huge bang.

My heart jumped and I looked up. There he was our dad, standing in the doorway, looking so angry I thought he might explode. His eyes looked around the room, then landed on me and Mom. His jaw was clenched so tight I thought he might break his teeth.

"What the hell is going on here?" he yelled, his voice so loud it made me flinch.

Mom stood up quick, her face changing from surprised to calm in a second. "What are you talking about, honey?" she asked, sounding sweet but careful.

Dad took a step forward, staring right at me. "I just got off the phone with Max's grandpa. He told me about the rumors going around about Sara and Max and about Eva being a third party and gold digger. And he's super mad. What the hell have you two been doing?"

My stomach felt like it dropped to my feet. The wine in my hand suddenly tasted awful. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not yet, anyway.

But when I looked at Mom, I didn't see any fear in her eyes. Just cold determination.

She stepped towards Dad, her voice getting real quiet and scary. "Calm down. We have everything under control."

But for the first time ever, I wasn't sure if we really did.

Dad's face gets even redder. "Under control?" he shouts. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Max's grandfather is threatening to cut all ties with our family. All our business deals, all our connections... everything could be ruined!"

I feel like I can't breathe. This is bad. Really bad. I look at Mom, hoping she has a plan, but even she looks a little worried now.

"Listen," Mom says, trying to sound calm. "We can fix this. We just need to-"

But Dad cuts her off. "Fix this? How? You've been playing with fire, and now we're all going to get burned!"

He turns to me, and I've never seen him look so disappointed. "Sara, I thought you were smarter than this. I thought you understood how delicate our position is. Do you realize what you've done?"

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but no words come out. I feel like a little kid again, caught doing something I shouldn't.