Chapter 3

3: 3

The doctor finished reading the ultrasound and his face turned grim.

"The heartbeat is already very unstable. You should be admitted for observation."

I nodded, but I declined.

Tomorrow was my mother's cremation, and I had to go home first, to fetch the silk embroidered gown she had loved most in life.

She had prepared it for herself, saying she'd lived a dignified life and wanted to leave clean and proper.

When I dragged my numb legs to the door and pushed it open, the sight in front of me froze me where I stood.

The living room, once spotless, where even the couch cushions had to be lined up with a ruler, was now hung with colored balloons.

A few of the young doctors from Burton's department were standing on the wool carpet in shoes caked with mud, eating, drinking, and laughing.

And Burton, the man with his severe compulsion for cleanliness, who never let anyone break a single one of his household rules, was setting out desserts on the table with his own hands, letting all of it happen.

I looked at him.

"What are you doing?"

One of the young doctors explained with a smile.

"Zara's been down these past few days, so Dr. James called everyone over to cheer her up."

Burton gave me a flat glance.

"I'm just letting her relax. There's no need for you to make a scene."

I looked at the mess across the floor and felt the irony of it.

When my mother's life hung by a thread, he wouldn't move up her treatment by even half an hour.

Zara was just in a bad mood, and he could throw out every one of his own rules and fill the house with people to cheer her up.

I didn't ask anything more. I went straight to the guest room where my mother had been staying.

The moment I pushed the door open, my blood shot straight to the top of my head.

Zara was standing in front of the full-length mirror, holding my mother's silk gown up against herself.

There were scissors in her hand, and two of the knotted buttons at the collar had already been cut off.

Hearing the door, she turned to look at me without a trace of guilt on her face.

"Iris, you're back just in time. The collar on this gown is so dated. I was just about to take it apart and redo it."

"Burton said I could pick whatever I wanted from in here."

Whatever reason I had left snapped clean in that moment.

"Take it off!"

I rushed at her, snatched for the scissors in her hand, and yanked her away from the mirror.

Zara shrieked and fell, and the scissors sliced a long tear down the gown.

Burton came at the sound, his face going dark.

"Iris, what are you throwing a fit about now?"

"You told her she could touch my mother's things?"

He put his arm out to shield Zara, his voice full of impatience.

"It's just a dress. Zara likes it, so let her have it."

I reached out to grab it back, but Burton clamped down on my wrist and shoved me hard.

"Hurting someone over something this small. Is it really worth it?"

I stumbled into the corner of the solid wood bed frame, and pain tore through my lower back in an instant.

Burton reached out on reflex, but Zara clutched her chest and fell crying against him.

"Burton, I can't breathe…"

He drew back the hand he'd stretched toward me and bent down to pick her up.

"The dress is ruined. I'll buy you ten of them."

"But if anything happens to Zara, you'll answer for it."

The door slammed shut.

Warm blood came pouring down the side of my leg, quickly staining the wood floor red.

I held the ruined dress tight against me.

Then I dug out my phone and dialed Lawyer Weiss.

"Lawyer Weiss, the divorce and the medical liability claim. Start them both."

"I'll send you the evidence right away."

After hanging up, I dialed emergency services.