My Parents Left Me Out Of The Will—After I Paid $60K To Save Their House, Mom Still Asked For More

My name is Emma. I'm 35 years old and I run a successful interior design firm in Chicago. Every morning, I wake up at 5:30, make myself a double shot latte, and head to my high-rise office where I've built something I'm truly proud of. I started my business from scratch eight years ago, working from my tiny studio apartment, and now I manage a team of fifteen talented designers. My family, however, has never understood what I do. To them, I'm just the middle child who got lucky. The one who somehow managed to make money doing what they dismissively call "decorating." My older brother Connor is the golden child – a surgeon who followed in Dad's footsteps. My younger sister Ashley is the baby of the family – a stay-at-home mom who married into old money. And me? I'm the one they call when they need money, but never when they're celebrating achievements.