Katie had simply had it. She was so sick and tired of pretending she was okay when she wasn’t. For her entire life she had always tried to be better than her siblings, simply because it was what was expected of her. Her older sister AJ was a heart surgeon, her oldest brother Jamie was a NBA player and her other brother Graham was a partner at one of the biggest and most prestigious law firms in LA. On top of that her mom was a top-notch studio executive and her momma was a renowned art exhibitor. It was a lot of pressure for an 18 yr old. Katie had always strived to be the best at whatever she did, whether it was school, sports or extra-curricular activities. That logic had worked for her for almost 18 years, but there were two times it didn’t. When she fell in love with Mackenzie Ford and when she was raped by Mackenzie’s older brother Austin, resulting in Katie’s pregnancy. Mackenzie had shown Katie unwavering allegiance during this time never once doubting Katie at all. It was only with some prodding from Mackenzie did Katie reluctantly tell AJ with her older brother Graham over hearing. Both of the older siblings had wanted Katie to go to the police immediately but Katie refused. She was simply to ashamed and embarrassed and because she didn’t want to break up Mackenzie’s family. With the stress of being pregnant and the secret she was carrying, the stress was beginning to get to Katie. She finally cracked at her older sister’s wedding with all of her family watching.

“Ugh I think we might have a problem.”, says Graham.

“What do you, oh for the love of God. What the Hell?”, Bette exclaims

Everyone turns to where Graham is directing his gaze and they see Katie double fisting flutes of champagne off of a tray a waiter was currently holding.

“I can’t do it anymore. It is to hard to pretend everything is fine when it isn’t!”, Katie exclaims.

“Don’t you say a damn word, Katie.”, AJ tells Katie.

“AJ if you know what is going on with you sister, you need to tell us.”, Tina tells her.

“Not my place.”, AJ simply states.

“If you won’t say something AJ, then I will.” Graham boldly declares.

“No you won’t. It is up to Katie to say something not us. You have to respect her wishes no matter how much you disagree with them.”, AJ argues.

“Yeah but she is putting herself in danger!”, Graham calls out.

“ENOUGH!”, Katie shrieks. “I think that it is time to tell Mom and Momma what happened.”, Katie whispers quietly.

“Are you sure?”, AJ, Mackenzie and Graham all reply in unison.

“Yeah it is becoming to much and is eating me up inside.”, Katie replies.

“Well if your sure.”, Mackenzie states. It was really the first time since the argument erupted that Mackenzie had spoken up. Mackenzie was furiously protective of Katie and it showed in everything that Mackenzie did for Katie. In all honesty she blamed herself for Katie’s rape believing that it could have been prevented if she hadn’t trusted her brother Austin so much. Truthfully if she had been painfully honest with herself she would have seen just how evil Austin truly was.

Next time- Katie spills her secret with the rest of her family.