Chapter 5

The next morning, I woke to noise downstairs, someone crying, someone trying to calm them down, and an unfamiliar voice talking over it all. I checked my phone. It was eight-thirty. I tried to go back to sleep, but the noise kept getting louder.

With a sigh, I got up, washed up, changed into a loose T-shirt and shorts, and padded downstairs in slippers. The moment I reached the landing, I saw the whole setup below.

Carol sat on the couch with red eyes. Beside her was a well-dressed middle-aged woman wearing a thick gold necklace. George sat opposite with a grim face, Grace hovered by the kitchen door, and James was nowhere in sight.

I walked down the stairs slowly. "Wow, quite a crowd," I said. "Throwing a party?" Carol looked up at me with hatred in her eyes, but instead of exploding, she glanced at the woman in the gold necklace.

The woman stood and gave me a long once-over. "So you're Emily?"

"I am," I said. "And you are?"

"I'm Aunt May," she said. "Carol's good friend. I heard what happened and came to see you for myself."

See me? I glanced at Carol and instantly understood her strange expression. May wasn't here as a friend. She was the backup she'd called in.

"Oh." I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. "Done looking? If you are, I'd like breakfast."

May's face twitched, but she quickly forced the smile back on. "Emily, let me give you a little advice.

"You've been married into the Lancaster family for two years. Has Carol really treated you that badly? She feeds you, clothes you, and gives you a roof over your head. What are you so unhappy about?"

I looked at the hand gripping mine but didn't pull away. "May, let me ask you something. When you got married, did your mother make you get up at five every morning to fix her fancy tonic too?"

May's smile stiffened. "W-well... that means you're a good daughter-in-law."

"Filial?" I laughed. "I treated her well, and she told people I'm a dog. If I treated you that well instead, would you want to be the dog?"

May's face dropped. From the side, Carol blurted, "May, look at her. Her mouth is poison."

May took a deep breath and switched tactics. Lowering her voice like whisper, she said, "Making a mess like this won't do you any good.

"You're from out of town, with no job and no backing. If you admit you were wrong and behave from now on, everything from before can be wiped clean."

Admit I was wrong. Wipe it all clean. I looked at her and suddenly found the whole thing hilarious.

"May," I said, "do you know what I dreamed about last night?

She stunned a second, "Dream what?"

"A dog. It got beaten for ten years, day after day, until one day it finally bit back. Do you know what the person said then?

"'You never used to bite. What happened to you?'" I looked her in the eye. "Did that dog turn bad, or did it finally learn to protect itself?"

May opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Carol finally snapped and shot to her feet."Emily! Don't push your luck. I asked May here out of kindness. If you don't know what's good for you, don't blame me for dropping the nice act."

"Drop the nice act?" I walked right up to her. "How exactly are you planning to do that? Hit me? Go ahead.

"Have James divorce me? Then call him. Cut off my living expenses? Fine. Do that once, and I'll go online and livestream every last thing your Lancaster family has done. Want to guess whether the internet would love that?"

Carol went pale. She knew I meant every word. Yesterday's banquet video was already all over the internet, and she didn't dare let the Lancaster family end up trending again.

May was standing nearby, looking from me to Carol, with this look on her face. Even May looked stunned that someone once so easy to bully had become this hard to deal with.

"Fine," May said, grabbing her purse. "This is beyond me. You people deal with your own family mess."

She turned to leave. "May," I called after her.

She turned back. "Thanks for coming to see me today," I said with a smile. "But don't come again. You can't help her, because from the very beginning, she was the one in the wrong."

After staring at me for three seconds, May turned and left.

Carol stood in the middle of the living room, face dark as thunder. The backup she'd paid for had been sent packing in under three minutes. She pointed at me, too furious to finish a sentence.

"Carol, don't get so mad. If you ruin your health again, you'll end up back in the hospital. That ambulance ride yesterday wasn't cheap, right? Better save your money. One day it'll all be mine anyway."

Carol's lips started trembling. She spun around, stormed into her room, and slammed the door behind her.

George hadn't said a single word the whole time. He simply picked up his newspaper and kept reading. Looking at his back, I felt conflicted.

He wasn't good, but he wasn't evil either, merely an ordinary man who never wanted trouble. When I was bullied, he pretended not to see it. Now he was pretending not to see this too.

Whatever. He wasn't worth arguing with.

I went into the kitchen, made myself a sandwich, warmed a glass of milk, and carried it to the table. Grace hovered nearby, clearly wanting to say something. "Grace, if you want to say something, please say it."

"Mrs. Lancaster," she said quietly, "aren't you scared? Madam... she's not going to let this go."

"Scared of what?" I took a bite of my sandwich. "Worst case, it's divorce. I used to think that would be the end of me. Now I get it, divorce would be the start of my life."

Grace looked at me with both sympathy and admiration. "Mrs. Lancaster, you've changed so much."

"I haven't changed," I said. "I'm too weary to pretend."