Chapter 3

Everyone was happy.

The engagement party went off without a hitch. Even the Gilberts came.

They were more than pleased with Pat as their new daughter-in-law.

When Mrs. Gilbert looked at me, she only urged me to let go, said a melon forced off the vine was never sweet.

I turned and gave her a cold smile. "You tell me now that a melon forced off the vine is never sweet. Why didn't you say that when the Gilberts were in trouble, when you were the one pushing Stuart to get engaged to me?"

I'd torn down her dignity in front of everyone, and her face went ugly.

Back when she'd needed something from me, her manner had been lovely. Now that the Gilberts had climbed so effortlessly high, she thought herself a cut above.

Every one of them had received my kindness, had lived off my help.

Not one of them had a scrap of gratitude, not even a little. What they had instead was the nerve to turn on me like ingrates.

I didn't linger to be humiliated any longer. I went straight inside, back to my room.

But all my things had been cleared out, dumped into a cramped little house.

The place was thick with dust. It made me think of when Father had first brought the orphaned girl home off the streets.

She was supposed to spend her first night in this very room. I'd been afraid she would feel small, so I brought her to rest in mine.

"Who touched my things?"

Mother came over at the sound of my voice.

"I did!"

"Your reason?"

"Pat's room is no good. It's damp, not fit to live in."

"You weren't using it before, so I just—"

"Take all her things out. Don't make me do it myself."

"She's taken everything from me. Now even my room is going to be stripped away?"

"What do you mean, your room? I'm not dead yet. Everything in this house is mine to decide."

"If you don't want to live here, you can leave. No one's stopping you."

Stuart and Pat came back too, done with the party.

I let my eyes travel over them. The three of them stood together, a family united against me, the outsider.

And it hit me then. What family, what love was I still holding on to?

"Sorry, but I'm the one who paid for this house."

"Head of the family or not, you don't get to decide for me."

Stuart took a step forward. "Do you really have to say something so cruel?"

"And you all think what you did to me wasn't cruel?"

The three of them froze for a moment. Then Stuart's face went cold.

"You dare go in there and throw Pat's things out, and tomorrow when you're back at the office, I'll throw yours in the trash."

"Don't be so quick to run your mouth at me. Think about the people on your team."

"They've got parents to support and kids to raise, and jobs are hard to find out there right now."

"You cross me, and I'll fire every one of them."

"Stuart???"

He finally saw the panic on my face, and it made him feel sure of himself.

"Good, be angry. That's exactly how I keep Pat safe."

Then he reached out and took Pat's hand.

"Let's go in."

"Wait, we don't have any of those."

"I don't want to get pregnant yet. I think we should wait a while before we have a child."

Stuart smiled and nodded.

"I'll go buy some right now—"

"No, you don't need to go for something like that."

And with that, Stuart turned and looked at me.

"Alison, Pat likes the strawberry kind."

My hand clenched into a fist all at once, and I stared straight at him.

"I really want to know why you fell for someone else."

"Even if you don't love me anymore, you don't get to use something this disgusting to humiliate me."

Faced with my question, Stuart finally chose to answer.

"She's sick. It's serious."

"That's why we suddenly took her side."