12/28/2025
My parents favored my sister my entire life. Then she discovered I had $42 million—and completely lost control.
I’m Olivia, 27, standing under the crystal chandeliers of my father’s anniversary gala, gripping a portfolio case worth $45,000. It was my heart on paper, a charcoal sketch I’d spent weeks perfecting just for him. “Happy anniversary, Dad,” I said, extending the gift, waiting for a smile.
Instead, my sister Harper swirled her champagne and laughed loud enough for the board members to hear. “Cute Olivia, is that from an adult coloring book? Maybe we can hang it in the staff bathroom.” My father chuckled. I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I just took my $45,000 back and walked away.
The elevator doors slid shut, cutting off the sound of their laughter like a guillotine. The silence that followed wasn’t empty. It was heavy, pressurized, like the air before a thunderstorm. I watched the numbers countdown from the 30th floor. 29. 28. Beside me, Lucas loosened his tie. He didn’t say a word.
He didn’t have to. He knew exactly what that portfolio contained. He knew that the charcoal sketch wasn’t just a doodle. It was study number four for my upcoming ecliptic series scheduled to headline the contemporary auction at Christy’s next month. Opening bid, $45,000. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly as the doors opened to the lobby.
“I’m not sad, Lucas,” I said, stepping out into the cool Chicago night. “I’m calculating.”
We didn’t go back to our apartment. We drove straight to my studio in the warehouse district. The moment I unlocked the heavy steel door, the air changed. The penthouse had smelled of sterile lilies and expensive perfume. Here, the air was thick with the scent of turpentine, linseed oil, and stale coffee. Smelled like work.
It smelled like truth.
I walked over to my desk, bypassing the large canvases covered in drop cloths. I sat down and opened my laptop. The screen glowed, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the dark.
“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?” Lucas asked, leaning against the doorframe.
I navigated to a folder labeled family. Inside, there was a single PDF document. It was a licensing agreement, a draft I had spent three weeks perfecting with my intellectual property lawyer. You see, my father’s company, Thomas Realty, was struggling to rebrand. They wanted to pivot to a younger, more modern demographic. For months, Harper had been talking about trying to acquire the rights to use imagery from the elusive artist Nova for their new marketing campaign.
They had no idea Nova was the sister they mocked for being unemployed. This contract was going to be my surprise. A gift—an exclusive perpetual license to use my artwork for their branding free of charge. A gift that would have saved them roughly $200,000 in licensing fees.
I looked at the file name. Thomas.
I thought about the years I spent painting in the basement, terrified to make a sound because Harper was on an important business call upstairs. I thought about the way my mother, Elaine, would sigh and tell guests I was finding myself as if I were lost. They didn’t just reject a drawing tonight. They rejected their own salvation.
They wanted a businessman in the family. I whispered, “Fine. I’ll show them how a businesswoman handles a bad investment.”
I clicked on the file. I dragged it to the trash bin. Then, with a calm, rhythmic tap of my finger, I emptied the trash. Delete it permanently.
“Are you sure?” Lucas asked quietly.
I picked up my phone. I didn’t send an angry text. I didn’t demand an apology. I simply went to my contacts. Thomas. Elaine. Harper. One by one, I selected block caller. It wasn’t an act of pettiness. It was professional necessity. I had an auction to prepare for, and I couldn’t afford the distraction of people who couldn’t afford me.
I stared at the list of blocked names on my phone screen. It felt like amputation. It felt like relief.
People always ask why I stayed so long, why I kept showing up to the dinners, the galas, the birthdays where I was treated like a prop. The answer isn’t simple. It’s woven into the very fabric of how I was raised. You see, in the Thomas Realty household, money wasn’t just currency. It was love.
It was attention. It was worth. And by that metric, I was bankrupt before I even started.
I remember when Harper went to college. She was barely scraping a C average in business administration, partying four nights a week. My parents bought her a brand-new MacBook Pro, hired private tutors at $100 an hour, and paid for a networking semester in London. They called it investing in the future.
I was studying fine arts on a partial scholarship I earned myself. When I needed supplies, I didn’t ask them. I knew the answer. “Art is a cute hobby, Olivia, but we’re not throwing good money after bad.”
So I scavenged. I bought used brushes from estate sales, cleaning the dried acrylic off with harsh solvents until my hands were raw. I painted on discarded plywood I found in alleyways. They didn’t see resilience. They saw desperation. And the sickest part—they liked it.
It took me years to understand the mechanism of their cruelty. For a long time, I thought they just hated me. But hate is active. Hate requires energy. This was something more insidious.
It was the trap of normalized cruelty.
My parents and Harper didn’t hate me. They needed me. They needed a failure to make their mediocre successes look brilliant. Every time they sighed and handed me a check for $50 for groceries. Every time they rolled their eyes at my paint-stained jeans, they got a hit of dopamine.
They felt benevolent. They felt superior. My struggle was the foundation their ego was built on. If I was the starving artist, then they were the magnanimous patrons. If I succeeded—if I was actually a genius—then their narrative collapsed. Then Harper was just a spoiled brat with a title she didn’t earn. And my father was just a checkbook with a pulse.
They loved the version of me that was small.
So I became Nova.
Nova wasn’t just a pseudonym. She was a fortress. I created her five years ago after my first solo gallery opening. It was a tiny show in a basement in Wicker Park. I had invited them three months in advance. I reminded them weekly.... 👇👇👇