Chapter 2

Austin's face turned pitch black. He instantly scooped his niece, Lily, into his arms while throwing his free arm around his sister-in-law, Chloe, shielding her behind him.

"Have you lost your mind, Claire? Chloe spent hours cooking this dinner, and you just ruined it!"

Chloe peeked out from behind Austin's shoulder, a smug, triumphant smirk flashing across her face before she quickly replaced it with a look of sheer terror.

My fingernails dug into my palms. My face went completely pale.

Ever since Chloe and her daughter moved in, I had been relegated to an unpaid maid.

Tonight, Chloe had literally just carried two takeout dishes to the table, and suddenly, she was the chef of the year. If she so much as touched a broom once a week, Austin praised her for "deep cleaning" the house. Meanwhile, I worked myself to the bone from dawn to dusk, only for Austin to call me lazy.

And now, when I was pushed to the absolute edge, he was still blaming me for ruining Chloe's "hard work."

Lily wrapped her arms around Austin's neck, sobbing hysterically. "Austin... where is my daddy? Why does Leo get to have a dad and I don't?"

Austin and Chloe immediately swarmed her, cooing and soothing her.

But the more they comforted her, the louder she wailed.

Austin whipped his head around, glaring at my son with pure rage. "Did I not make myself clear, Leo? You are never to call me 'Dad' in front of Lily! Get on your knees. Now!"

My seven-year-old son trembled, his knees instantly buckling out of sheer survival reflex.

I lunged forward, grabbing him by the shoulders to pull him back up. I glared at Austin, my voice shaking with disbelief. "He has a father! Why on earth can't he call you Dad in his own home?"

This was beyond ridiculous.

After Austin's brother, Ryan, died in a car crash, Austin insisted on bringing his widow and daughter into our home.

Since that day, he had forbidden Leo from calling him "Dad."

Leo was just a child. Occasionally, he would slip up. But every time he did, Lily would throw a massive tantrum, and Austin would either slap Leo's hands or force him to kneel on the hard floor as punishment.

Just a minute ago, Leo couldn't reach the food on Austin's side of the table and accidentally called out, "Dad, can you pass the chicken?"

That was all it took for Austin to slam his fist on the table, shaking the plates. "You can't even raise a son right! I want a divorce. Get the hell out of my house and reflect!"

I clutched my fork, my eyes burning. This was the sixth time he had used divorce to threaten me.

The first time was when Leo begged Austin to attend his Parent-Teacher Association meeting. Lily had burst into tears, and Austin threw me out of the house.

"From now on, I will only attend Lily's school events. She needs a male role model more than Leo does," he had declared.

The second time was when I suggested Chloe should look into getting a job to support herself. She wept, locked herself in her room, and went on a "hunger strike" for a day, claiming I was mocking her tragic widowhood. Austin demanded a divorce that night.

For the sake of giving my son a complete family, I had always swallowed my pride, begged for forgiveness, and crawled back. But looking at my trembling, terrified boy, I woke up.

This wasn't a family. This was a horror movie.

Chloe, tears streaming down her face, dramatically snatched Lily from Austin's arms. "Claire, please don't divorce Austin because of us! My daughter and I will leave. We won't get in your way anymore."

With that, she grabbed her purse and made a theatrical run for the front door.

Austin leaped forward, grabbing her arm to pull her back. He spun around and spat at me, "Claire! How can you be so heartless?"

"They are a grieving widow and an orphan! We took them in, and this is how you treat them? If people in our circle find out about this, they will drag our family name through the mud!"

My nose stung, and a sharp, stabbing pain bloomed in my chest.

Drag his family name through the mud?

When they first moved in, they were pale and malnourished. I pitied them. I spent my own savings buying organic groceries and cooking nutritious meals to nurse them back to health.

In our three-bedroom apartment, Chloe and Lily occupied the two master bedrooms. The three of us—Austin, Leo, and I—were crammed into the tiny guest room.

Chloe had cried that she had no assets left, so Austin transferred the deed of the cottage my parents had left me to her name. I hadn't even made a scene about that.

I had done everything a supportive sister-in-law could possibly do. No one could point a finger at me. But in his eyes, I was still the villain.

I knelt down, wrapped my arms around Leo, and stared at Austin for a long, quiet moment.

"Austin," I said softly, "I agreed to let them move in because I felt sorry for them. But do you even remember who your actual wife and son are?"

Austin stiffened, his expression flickering with a moment of guilt. "What kind of nonsense is that? Of course I know."

I pressed my lips together. The fog in my head had completely vanished.

Actually, I was the one who hadn't realized the truth.

I hadn't realized that to Austin, the validation of outsiders meant more than his own flesh and blood. As long as Chloe and her daughter stroked his ego and praised him to the neighbors as a "heroic savior," he was willing to bleed us dry.

I hugged Leo tight, gently patting his back.

"It doesn't matter if you can't tell us apart anymore," I said, my voice steady and cold. "After all, I'm about to be your ex-wife."