Chapter 1
A phone notification chimed, and Dad's phone lit up on the dining table.
Without even glancing at it, he casually sent a voice message to the family group chat. "Babe, tomorrow I'll kick that old witch and Reese out. The company and the house will both be yours and Ethan's."
The air froze in an instant.
Mom's fork slipped from her hand and hit the floor with a harsh clatter.
Dad's face turned very pale. In a panic, he tried to recall the message, but he hit delete instead.
I calmly set down my utensils, walked into the study, and took out the family records.
Right in front of his horrified eyes, I tore them to pieces, page by page. "In this house, you don't get the final say."
*****
It was utterly silent, like the world had died.
The BBQ Ribs were still steaming on the table, and the Corn Chowder Mom had slow-cooked for three hours filled the air with its tempting aroma. But right now, all of it felt like a twisted mockery.
Dad, Roman Holloway, always the picture of grace and duty in front of outsiders, was drenched in cold sweat, his lips trembling, unable to say a single word.
He was fixated on his phone, as if he could will it to disappear, desperate to wipe that fatal voice message from everyone's memory.
The old witch he was talking about was my mother, Victoria Pembroke. And I was Reese Holloway.
Babe was his mistress, and Ethan was their son. Clearly, he had been running another family on the side.
Mom's face shifted from shocked and pale to a hollow, lifeless gray. She looked at Roman, her eyes free of anger or questions. There was only a hollow emptiness, utterly crushed.
After twenty-five years of marriage, she'd gone from a pampered young lady who never touched housework to a woman who devoted herself to the kitchen and the family. And all she got in return was being kicked out by her husband.
"Roman, you..." Her voice rasped, dry and rough, like rusty metal scraping together.
Roman snapped back to reality, and instead of facing Mom, he turned on me. "Reese, are you out of your mind?"
His eyes blazed the moment he saw the shredded records in my hands, like a wild animal whose territory had been trespassed. "Who told you to mess with that? You've got some nerve."
He raised his hand, about to slap me right across the face.
I didn't flinch. I gave him a cold, hard stare. But the slap never came.
Mom, who'd always been gentle and barely ever raised her voice, suddenly turned into a mother lion defending her child. She grabbed Roman's wrist, fierce and unbreakable.
"Go ahead, touch her if you dare." Her voice wasn't loud, but it had a sharp edge and a determination I'd never seen in her before.
Roman was stunned by Mom's reaction. He shook off her hand and pointed at us, his whole body trembling with rage. "Oh, so now you've got the guts to lay a hand on me, Victoria?
"Everything you have and everything you use comes from me. Without me, you're nothing. Now you think you've got the guts to challenge me?"
He was breathing hard, his eyes dripping with contempt. He didn't even bother to hide it.
He snapped, "Reese, ripping up the records means nothing. I'll get them replaced tomorrow, and the first thing I'll do is kick you out. Get out of my house. I don't have a daughter like you."
He thought his threats would make me scared, have me crying my eyes out, and begging. But he couldn't be more wrong.
I tossed the last piece of the documents onto the floor and ground it in with my foot. Then I looked up, meeting his furious glare with a cold, hard smirk.
"Go ahead, and get a new one," I said, my words slow and sharp. "But let me warn you, Dad. Before you try to kick me out, you'd better check your company's books.
"Every bit of cash you sent to your babe? All straight from the company account. Guess what happens if I hand those transactions and the address of your new home over to the tax guys and the investigators?"
Roman's eyes went wide. All the anger drained away, replaced by pure disbelief and fear.
He looked at me like I was someone he'd never met, jaw dropped, totally speechless.
I kept smiling, but my voice was cold as ice. "Oh, and the money you use to keep Ethan comfortable? It all flows through a front company called GrandVision Group, right?
"The guy listed as the owner is your college buddy, but he died in a car crash last year. Then how does a dead man help you manage your business?"
"H-How do you know that?" Roman's voice trembled, his finger shaking as he pointed at me.
I didn't answer him. Instead, I walked over to Mom, slipped my hand around her cold arm, and whispered, "Mom, let's go."
Mom looked like she'd woken up from a nightmare. She glanced at the chaos on the floor, then at the ashen-faced Roman. Her gaze finally settled on me, and she gave a determined nod.
At this moment, the home she'd devoted half her life to was completely shattered. And I was going to bury it with my own hands.