“God, Elena, could you at least try?” she announced loudly, making several heads turn. “That dress looks like something from a clearance bin. A disgrace, really. Especially today.”

Heat crawled up my neck, but I stayed quiet. My mother avoided my eyes. My aunts stiffened awkwardly. Victoria smirked, believing she had won whatever petty competition she had invented in her head. To her, I was still the “plain” younger sister—the one who supposedly failed at everything, the one she loved belittling ever since we were children.

No one knew the truth.
No one knew the dress hugging my figure—simple, black, elegant—was valued at thirty thousand dollars.
No one knew it was a prototype from a private, unreleased collection.
No one knew I personally approved its final cut.
Because no one knew that I was the silent founder and owner of HÉLOISE, the luxury fashion brand Victoria modeled for.

For five years, I watched her flaunt her status as one of the brand’s “faces,” mocking anyone she deemed beneath her—sometimes employees, sometimes family, often me. She had no idea that every runway she walked was under my company, under my payroll, under my decision.

But the moment she insulted me publicly at our father’s funeral—the man who raised us both with kindness—something inside me snapped with quiet precision.

That morning, before arriving at the church, I had signed a document:
Victoria’s termination of contract.

Effective immediately.

And that was only step one.

Standing beside the casket, I met her smug gaze and smiled—soft, dangerous, controlled. She didn’t yet know that the next few days would unravel everything she thought she owned, everything she believed she deserved.

This was how I made every single one of them pay.

And the first crack in her perfect life was about to appear.

When the funeral ended, whispers rose around the hall as people drifted toward the reception room. Victoria strutted ahead, heels clicking, accepting condolences like they were admiring applause. She didn’t know every camera she had posed for in the last two years, every campaign she starred in, would soon be scrubbed from the brand’s future direction.

I waited until she isolated herself with a glass of champagne—a wildly inappropriate choice for a funeral reception, but nothing about her surprised me anymore.

“Elena,” she said without looking at me. “Next time, try wearing something that doesn’t embarrass the entire Hale family. Your dress is practically screaming poverty.”

I exhaled slowly. “Victoria, about your contract…”

She rolled her eyes. “What about it? I know you’re jealous I’m their top model, but whatever you think you know about the fashion world, you don’t. Just stick to your office job.”

“My office job?” I repeated softly. “Interesting.”

Before she could respond, Daniel, our lead operations manager—whom she had never bothered to learn the name of—approached us.

“Ms. Hale,” he addressed me, not her. “The legal department has confirmed your signature. The termination becomes public at noon.”

Victoria frowned. “Termination? Of who?”

Daniel gave her a polite but distant look. “Of you, Ms. Hale.”

She laughed, a sharp, incredulous sound. “You’re firing me? Do you know who I am? HÉLOISE wouldn’t survive without me—”

Daniel cut her off gently. “We will survive, Ms. Hale. And just for clarity… she”—he gestured toward me—“owns the company.”

The glass slipped from Victoria’s hand, shattering at her feet. Her face drained of color as she turned to me, unable to form words.

I continued calmly, “Your dismissal letter was sent to your email this morning. And the brand launch you bragged about attending next month? You’re not invited.”

“You… own HÉLOISE?” she croaked.

“I built it,” I corrected. “Brick by brick. While you mocked me.”

The surrounding conversations faded as several relatives began to piece together what was happening. My mother finally approached, trembling, unsure whose side she should stand on.

Victoria stepped closer, voice shaking. “You planned this. You waited to humiliate me.”

“No,” I said. “You humiliated yourself. I simply stopped protecting you.”

Her world began collapsing, and she knew it.

And I wasn’t done.

The fallout came fast.

Within twenty-four hours, every magazine, blog, and industry partner received a quiet but firm notice: Victoria Hale was no longer associated with HÉLOISE. Her upcoming sponsorships—many of which existed solely because of her affiliation with my brand—were swiftly reevaluated. Some companies called her directly. Others didn’t bother.

By the third day, she appeared at my apartment doorstep, makeup smudged, pride cracked.

“Elena, please. We’re sisters. You can’t destroy my career like this.”

Her voice was small, almost childlike—so different from the woman who mocked me in public.

“I didn’t destroy it,” I answered. “You treated everyone like they were beneath you. You burned every bridge yourself.”

“But I can change,” she insisted. “I swear. Give me one more chance.”

I hesitated—not because I felt guilty, but because our family had let her hurt people for so long without consequences. Even our father, in his gentle way, had tried to guide her, but she refused to listen.

“You had more chances than anyone deserves,” I said. “And you wasted them.”

She broke down crying, collapsing onto the hallway floor. For a moment, I almost reached out. Almost.

But then I remembered the designers she screamed at, the makeup artists she insulted, the assistants she treated like disposable tools. I remembered the grief of losing our father and the cruelty she showed me that very same morning.

“Victoria,” I said quietly, “you need to learn what humility feels like. Losing your job is the start. You’ll figure the rest out.”

I closed the door.

Over the next few weeks, my extended family’s true colors surfaced. The aunts who sided with Victoria suddenly pretended they had always admired me. The cousins who laughed at her jokes behind my back now sent timid messages of support. It was amusing—and disappointing—to watch loyalties shift so quickly.

But I didn’t seek revenge on them the way I did with her. It wasn’t necessary.
Their regret was punishment enough.

Victoria eventually found smaller modeling jobs, far from the spotlight she craved. Sometimes I saw her on minor brand campaigns—improved, quieter, humbled. She no longer mocked anyone.

Maybe losing everything made her human again.

As for me, I continued growing HÉLOISE, investing in young designers, building a culture of respect—something she never valued.

And maybe one day, I’ll tell this story publicly.
Maybe you’ll even have an opinion about who was right or wrong.

What do you think—did Elena go too far, or was it finally justice served?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.