Chapter 1
Tyler had been asking me for money all week.
Not asking, really.
Pressing.
Cornering.
Texting at midnight.
Calling while I was at work.
Five hundred dollars.
That was all he wanted “this time.”
That was what he called it.
This time.
As if I had forgotten the last three times.
As if I had forgotten the two hundred for rent.
The three hundred for car repairs.
The six hundred for a “temporary emergency” that somehow became new sneakers, bar tabs, and a weekend trip.
I was done.
So at Sunday dinner, with the whole family sitting around my kitchen table, I finally said no.
Tyler’s face changed instantly.
The joking brother-in-law disappeared.
Something ugly stepped into his eyes.
My mother-in-law, Marlene, went still beside him.
My husband, Caleb, was in the garage helping his father look at a broken freezer.
So I was alone at the table with Tyler’s anger.
“You have money,” Tyler said.
“I have bills.”
“You’re selfish.”
“I’m finished lending you money.”
His hand tightened around his soup bowl.
Marlene sighed loudly.
“Jenna, family helps family.”
I looked at her.
“Family also pays family back.”
Tyler stood so fast his chair scraped the floor.
Before I could move, he grabbed his full bowl of soup and threw it at me.
Hot broth hit my chest and arms.
I gasped.
The bowl smashed against the wall behind my chair.
Everyone froze.
Soup ran down my blouse.
My skin burned.
Tyler smirked.
“You deserved that.”
Something inside me snapped clean in half.
I stood.
Then I slapped him so hard his head turned.
The smirk vanished.
Marlene screamed.
“How dare you hit my son?”
I looked at Tyler’s red cheek.
Then at my own shaking hands.
“He threw boiling soup at me.”
“He was upset!”
I reached for a towel and pressed it to my chest.
Pain pulsed through my arms.
Tyler pointed at me.
“She’s crazy.”
That word.
Crazy.
The family’s favorite word for any woman who stopped being useful.
I picked up my phone.
Marlene grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t you make this dramatic.”
I pulled free.
Then I called Caleb.
He answered from the garage.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
My voice shook, but I kept it low.
“Come inside.”
“What happened?”
“Check the kitchen camera.”
Tyler went pale.
So did Marlene.
Caleb appeared in the doorway seconds later.
His eyes went from my burned arms to the soup on the wall.
Then to his brother.
“What did you do?”
Tyler opened his mouth.
But I was already pulling up the camera feed.
The video showed Tyler entering the kitchen before dinner.
Opening my purse.
Taking my wallet.
Removing cash.
Then in the background, Marlene appeared.
She saw him.
She smiled.
May you like
And she said something that made the whole room go silent.
“Take enough to make her look guilty when she notices.”
