Lisa had been planning a dream vacation for months—a trip to Italy with her husband, her 14-year-old daughter, Emma, and her 17-year-old twin stepdaughters, Ava and Sophia. It was meant to be a bonding experience, a chance for their blended family to grow closer.
But just two days before their departure, disaster struck.
“Mom, I can’t find my passport!” Emma cried, tearing through her drawers and backpack. Lisa immediately joined the frantic search. They looked everywhere—her bedroom, the kitchen, the car—but the passport was nowhere to be found.
As panic set in, Lisa noticed the smug expressions on Ava and Sophia’s faces. A sinking feeling formed in her stomach.
“You two wouldn’t happen to know where Emma’s passport is, would you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
Ava scoffed. “Why would we know?”
Sophia shrugged. “Maybe she lost it.”
Lisa wasn’t convinced. The girls had always been distant with Emma, making her feel like an outsider. She had tried her best to foster unity, but they often excluded Emma from conversations and made passive-aggressive remarks.
Frustrated but determined, Lisa tore through the house again, searching every possible spot. Then, in the back of the twins’ shared closet, behind a pile of old shoes, she found it.
Holding the passport up, she turned to them. “Care to explain?”
Ava and Sophia looked away, feigning innocence. “Maybe it fell there,” Ava muttered.
Lisa’s anger boiled over. “You two deliberately hid this so Emma couldn’t go, didn’t you?”
Neither girl responded, but their guilty faces said enough.
Furious, Lisa was ready to cancel the entire vacation. “If Emma can’t go, then no one is going!” she declared.
But before she could make the final decision, karma stepped in.
The very next day, Ava woke up feeling awful. By the evening, Sophia was sick too. A trip to the doctor confirmed the worst—they had both caught the flu. With high fevers and exhaustion setting in, they were in no condition to travel.
