Chapter 1 - THREE HOURS EARLY
The first thing I heard when I walked into my own house was my mother-in-law saying, “She can finish cooking before she sits down.”
I stopped in the entryway with my suitcase still in my hand.
Instead, the house felt like a meat locker.
The air conditioner was blasting. Bonnie, my mother-in-law, was stretched across the sofa eating grapes from a glass bowl. My husband, Caden, sat beside her with a beer open and a tablet balanced on his stomach.
Neither noticed me.
Then Donovan cried from the kitchen.
I walked toward the sound and forgot how to breathe.
My mother stood over the stove with Donovan tied to her back in the woven shawl she had used when I was a baby. Steam rolled into her face. Her blouse was soaked through. Her hands shook as she stirred a heavy pot.
“Mom?”
She turned so fast she almost lost her balance.
“Taylor. Honey. You’re home.”
I set down my suitcase and untied Donovan. His cheeks were red. He clung to my neck.
“Grandma hurts,” he whispered.
I looked at my mother’s swollen knee.
“Why are you cooking?”
Before she could answer, Bonnie called from the living room. “Tell her the goat still needs another hour. And not so much salt this time.”
Caden added, “And my blue shirt needs ironing.”
My mother lowered her eyes. “It’s okay. I’m almost done.”
“No,” I said. “You’re done.”
Bonnie appeared in the doorway. “Excuse me?”
I took my mother’s hand.
“We’re leaving.”
Bonnie laughed. “Your mother is used to serving people. Don’t turn this into some dramatic feminist speech.”
Caden finally stood. “Taylor, stop making a scene. Apologize to Mom and turn the stove back on.”
I looked at the man I had been married to for six years.
Then I took out my phone.
I sent one text.
Twenty seconds later, the air conditioner died. The television went black. The refrigerator clicked off. A second later, the water pressure vanished.
Caden stared at me. “What did you do?”
“I gave you the lifestyle you can actually afford.”
I carried Donovan outside, helped my mother down the front steps, and crossed the street toward the biggest mansion in the neighborhood.
Bonnie shouted after me, “Where do you think you’re going?”
I pressed my finger to the bronze door’s biometric scanner.
The locks opened.
Caden came running barefoot across the street.
“Taylor! Why do you have access to that house?”
I turned before the doors closed.
“Because I bought it three years ago.”
May you like
His face went empty.
But the mansion wasn’t the secret that was about to ruin him.
