I opened the door but kept the chain latched.
Mom pressed a hand to her chest. “How could you lock us out?”
Vanessa’s voice dripped sweetness over steel. “You won a hundred million dollars, and we had to hear it on television?”
Dad stepped forward. “We’re family. That money affects all of us.”
“No,” I said. “It affects me.”
Vanessa laughed, but there was fear beneath it. “Stop being dramatic. Obviously Mom and Dad deserve something. They sacrificed everything for us.”
“For you,” I corrected.
Her expression hardened.
Dad pointed through the gap in the door. “We raised you. We are entitled to respect.”
I held his gaze. “Respect isn’t an inheritance.”
That’s when Vanessa made her mistake.
