Chapter 2
I locked the kitchen doors.
Not to trap my family.
To keep everyone else out.
Emma clung to my neck.
Oliver stayed pressed against my leg.
Margaret refused to sit until I physically pulled out a chair.
That bothered me.
My mother had never waited for permission to sit in her own life.
Vivian had taught her to.
“How long?”
Margaret looked at Ryan.
He smiled from beside the broken catering cart.
“There. Look at her.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Waiting for you to rescue her.”
His voice was contemptuous.
“As if she’s helpless.”
Margaret flinched.
Ryan saw it.
“See? She performs.”
I stepped closer.
“You bruised her.”
“She bruises easily.”
Vivian laughed from the floor.
“She’s old.”
Margaret whispered:
“Claire…”
I turned back.
“How long?”
“Twelve days.”
Every day I had been gone.
Oliver suddenly spoke.
“Grandma Vivian said we eat after they eat.”
My chest tightened.
“Every meal?”
He nodded.
Vivian rolled her eyes.
“They were fed.”
Oliver looked at the leftovers on the tile.
Ryan smiled.
“There’s food right there.”
I stared at him.
“You fed my children scraps?”
“They wasted proper meals.”
Vivian added:
“Your son cried over vegetables. Your daughter threw bread.”
Emma hid her face against me.
Vivian continued:
“Children who behave like animals can eat after the dog.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
I felt something cold settle over me.
“Why didn’t the staff stop this?”
Ryan laughed.
“Because I run the house when you’re gone.”
“No.”
His smile faltered.
“You supervise it.”
“I am your husband.”
“You are my underboss.”
That distinction mattered.
Especially to him.
Vivian stood slowly.
“You humiliate him in front of servants.”
I looked at her.
“No servants are here.”
That was when I noticed it.
No cook.
No housekeeper.
No kitchen guards.
The entire service corridor was empty.
“Where is everyone?”
Ryan’s expression changed.
Tiny.
Enough.
Margaret whispered:
“He sent them away.”
I looked at him.
“All of them?”
“Temporary rotation.”
“Why?”
“No reason.”
Oliver tugged my sleeve.
“Daddy said nobody should see Grandma cry.”
Ryan’s face hardened.
I looked at him.
Then Vivian.
Then the empty corridor.
May you like
They hadn’t merely abused my family.
They had cleared witnesses first.
