Chapter 2

Margaret saw me filming with my phone and panicked. She shoved Lucas away from her and yelled, "What are you doing?"

I ran forward and caught Lucas before he could fall, then I pushed her hard. I pointed my phone camera right at her face and said, "What's wrong? You love taking pictures, don't you? Why so shy all of a sudden?"

Everyone in the room stared at me in shock.

Margaret tried to get up, but I slapped her across the face, and she went down again.

"Emily, you're crazy! How dare you hit me? I'm your husband's mother!" Margaret screamed at me.

"Shut up. Open your mouth again and I'll hit you harder." I pointed at her nose.

"Emily, what are you doing? You can't hit my mom like this!" Andrew came over to grab me, but I dodged him.

"Hit your mom? I'm gonna hit you too." I slapped him across the face.

"You've lost your mind! A woman who beats her mother and her husband—you think you can do whatever you want?" Charles pointed at me furiously, and it looked like he was about to come at me.

I ignored him and carried Lucas back to his room first.

"Mommy," Lucas called out softly. He sounded scared.

"Baby, be good and wait here for Mommy, okay?" I kissed his forehead and gave him a toy so he could play by himself.

I closed the door and walked back to the living room.

All three of them were waiting for me. Charles didn't waste any words. He came straight at me to slap my face. "I don't believe a woman like you can get away with this!"

"Today I'm gonna tear your whole Wilson family apart." I kicked him in the stomach, and he went down hard.

This whole family was pathetic. They couldn't even handle one beating from me.

In less than fifteen minutes, I had all three of them on the floor.

"Emily, you crazy bitch. You hit your own family. That's assault. I'm calling the cops on you!" Andrew was practically crying and clutched his swollen cheek.

I didn't bother looking at him and walked over to Margaret, who'd collapsed on the floor. "Tell me. How many times has this happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Margaret's eyes darted away from mine.

"I already got the video. You really want to keep lying?"

"Video? I sent you the video?" Charles, still sprawled on the floor nearby, suddenly caught on and pulled out his phone to check his messages.

"Oh crap, I sent it to the wrong person. Why'd it have to be you?" He slapped his thigh in frustration.

"You'd better explain this right now. Why is Margaret in my house? Didn't we agree she'd never be allowed near Lucas?" I rolled my neck and cracked my knuckles, staring down at the three of them on the floor.

My mom, Rachel Carter, had always told me that nothing was more useful than your own two fists, so I'd trained in boxing since I was a kid. I learned early on—if you wanted to avoid getting pushed around, you had to know how to push back.

"You won't let me see my grandson? What gives you the right to keep me from seeing Lucas? He's my own flesh and blood, and I have every right to see him!" Margaret scrambled up from the floor and glared at me with pure venom in her eyes.

"You really don't know why I won't let you near him? You have no idea how disgusting what you tried to do was?" I pulled up the video and shoved my phone practically in her face. "Here, take a good look at yourself and tell me that's not sick."

"Emily, watch your mouth. How is any of this disgusting?" Andrew got to his feet, too.

His face was bruised and swollen, but he still tried to act as if he were the head of the household. "No matter what you think, she's my mom, and Lucas is her grandson. Stop twisting everything into something dirty."

"I'm the one twisting things? Or are you the ones doing twisted things?" I actually laughed at the audacity. "You better explain yourselves right now. How many times has this happened?"

I planted my foot on the coffee table and stared them down.

"This is outrageous! Attacking your elders and then interrogating us? Is this how your family raised you? I'm calling your mother right now to ask her exactly what kind of upbringing she gave you."

Charles pulled out his phone and dialed Rachel's number. He kept glancing at me while he waited for her to pick up.

He probably thought threatening to tattle to Rachel would scare me, but I just snorted. "I'd think twice about making that call if I were you."

"Oh, now you're scared? Too late. I'm making sure your mother knows exactly what kind of ugly person her daughter turned out to be."

Right then, Rachel answered.

The moment she picked up, Charles launched into his complaints. "Listen, we have a problem here. Your daughter is completely out of control. She attacked our entire family today. Don't you think you owe the Wilson family an explanation for this?"

Rachel paused on the other end, clearly taken aback. After a long silence, she finally said, "What, you expect a warranty with the daughter you married into your family?"

Charles froze. It took him a second to process what she'd just said, but then he pushed on. "When we married your daughter, you never mentioned she was this violent. If you don't give us a proper explanation today, this isn't going to end well."

Rachel asked, "You're telling me my daughter beat up your entire family?"

"Yes! She attacked my wife, my son, and me."

"Wow, your family must be pretty pathetic if three of you couldn't handle one person." Rachel laughed coldly. "So what did you people do to piss off my daughter?"

"Rachel, what's that supposed to mean? Are you saying we did something wrong? Your daughter attacked her elders, and that's inexcusable. How can you turn this around on us?"

Rachel snapped back, "Fuck that. Listen here, you old bastard—my daughter's got a temper, sure, but she doesn't just hit people for no reason.

"If she lost it on you, it's because you Wilson family assholes did something she couldn't stomach. And now you've got the nerve to come crying to me? I'll tear you apart myself."

Charles was fuming. "How can you be so unreasonable? Your daughter assaulted her elders, and instead of admitting it, you're hurling insults at the Wilson family.

"No wonder she turned out this way. She learned it from her unreasonable mother. I'm going to make sure everyone knows how disgraceful your family is."

"I'm not wasting my breath on you. Emily, are you there? Tell Mom what they did to you. Did Andrew cheat? Don't be scared, baby. Mom's got your back." Rachel must have guessed I was nearby, and her voice rang out through the phone, rallying behind me.

I seized the moment and grabbed Charles' phone from him, then explained everything that had happened today.