Chapter2

"Yeah, it's a pretty common name." I tossed the rag into the dirty water bucket without looking up.

"Your husband sounds like a great guy."

So great that I wanted to personally send him to meet his Maker.

A baby's cry drifted up from downstairs. Stella hurried down the stairs, her slippers slapping heavily against the steps.

"Chloe, could you speed it up a little? My family will be here any minute."

I kept washing the rag and moved on to wipe down the windowsill.

Liam. A last-minute emergency at the firm? Overtime on Thanksgiving? You were out here spending Thanksgiving with your fucking mistress. Taking the money I bled for across three jobs to buy her a house, a diamond ring, and that cashmere sweater on her back. And telling everyone I was dead.

No wonder he told me he had an out-of-state business trip for three months last year. He was actually here, playing house while she had his baby.

We were going to settle this score today.

Waves of laughter floated up from downstairs.

I wrung out the rag. I couldn't wait to see the exact look on Liam's face when he walked through that door and saw his dead ex-wife crawling out of her grave.

I sprayed cleaner on the floor and scrubbed it in slow, deliberate circles.

I was going to make this Thanksgiving dinner one they would never, ever forget.

The doorbell rang.

Stella trotted over to answer it.

"Oh my God, you're here! Come in, come in!"

My hands stopped moving. I crept over to the corner of the upstairs hallway and peered down through the banister.

The blood froze in my veins when I saw the three people walking in.

My mother, Susan. My father, David. And trailing right behind them, my brother, Tyler.

Susan was carrying four or five shopping bags, her face blooming with a massive smile.

"Stella, sweetheart, you look radiant. And this house is simply stunning."

David piled the gifts in the corner of the living room, flashing an obsequious grin.

"Liam is so lucky to have you. And the whole family is lucky right along with him."

Stella took the bags, a hint of smugness in her voice.

"You guys are too polite. You didn't have to bring so much."

Susan took Stella's hands with a level of overflowing affection I hadn't seen once in my thirty years of being her actual daughter.

Tyler casually tossed his car keys onto the coffee table.

"Stella, check it out. The new truck Liam got me. A fully loaded F-150. It turns heads everywhere I go."

"My buddies went crazy. Kept asking if I won the lottery."

Stella smiled.

"Liam said you needed a reliable ride for work. Looks like he has good taste."

Standing on the second floor, I gripped the dirty rag until my knuckles turned white.

Back when Tyler wanted to buy a car, Susan called me every single day crying about how broke they were, claiming they couldn't even afford groceries. I wired them the money I had spent years saving, only to be berated for being useless and told that was the best a loser like me could do.

As it turned out, Liam had already bought him the damn truck.

So where did my money go? Fed to the dogs?

Susan scooped Lily up from the sofa and pulled Stella down to sit next to her.

"Stella, look at Lily. She's starting to look more and more like you."

Stella leaned down and kissed Lily’s forehead.

"Liam always wanted a little girl. He spoils her rotten."

David sighed heavily.

"Liam is a great guy. Everything about him is perfect, except for the terrible luck he had with that first marriage. Chloe, that crazy bitch, really dragged him down."

Susan shook her head in agreement.

"Tell me about it. She got off easy by dying, leaving Liam all alone to raise a son. Thank God for you, Stella. Liam finally has a real life now."

A bitter, metallic taste flooded my mouth.

Tyler grabbed a piece of cake from the coffee table and took a bite.

"Mom, can we not talk about her on Thanksgiving? Chloe was a cheapskate when she was alive, and she's a buzzkill now that she's dead. Stella is the generous one. That twenty grand she transferred me last month? I had the time of my life in Vegas."

Stella patted Tyler on the shoulder.

"We're family, don't mention it. Liam said that from now on, you are my real parents, and Tyler is my real brother. Everything Chloe failed to do, I'll do instead."

Susan’s eyes actually welled up with tears.

"You are such a good girl. A truly good girl. Liam marrying you was an absolute blessing from God."

I leaned against the wall on the second floor. The laughter from the living room hit me like physical blows, knocking the wind out of my chest.

In the face of cold, hard cash, I wasn't even a human being to them.

I was just a prop. A tool that could be pronounced dead the moment I outlived my usefulness.

I went back into the guest bedroom and kept wiping the floor. Back and forth. Stroke by stroke.

A thick layer of moisture blurred my vision until I couldn't see a thing.

What was the point of confronting them? If they dared to sit down there so brazenly, they were already accomplices.

Liam had used his money to buy out my family, my marriage, and my very right to exist.

The laughter downstairs rose higher and higher, wave after wave.

I finished scrubbing the guest room and walked into the guest bathroom. I turned on the faucet, cranking the heat all the way up. Scalding water poured over the back of my hand, instantly turning the skin a violent red.

I fished the rag out of the boiling water and wrung it dry with all my strength.

One room. Two rooms. Three rooms.

I cleaned every single one of them spotlessly.

I had to make sure they were perfectly comfortable.

Because only when a house is thoroughly cleaned is it time to take out the trash.