Chapter 2

Ethan just grinned wider.

"Vanessa, told you I was hot commodity. You better hold onto me tight, or someone might actually steal me away. You'd regret it forever."

Not only could he not process basic human decency, but he was also delusional beyond belief.

Facing someone this thick-skinned, I was out of patience.

I picked up the platter of lobster and headed straight for the trash can.

"You two really are made for each other—both irrational, entitled narcissists. If you can't respect the effort I put into cooking, then don't eat at all."

Mrs. Vance scrambled into the kitchen after me, desperately grabbing my wrist. "Joanna, please, don't be mad! Vanessa is young and immature. Be the bigger person, okay? I'll make Ethan keep her in line later."

"This is her first visit, and Ethan finally managed to find a girlfriend. Just bear with it for my sake. The lobster smells so good, please don't throw it out. Consider it a favor to me, please?"

Seeing an elderly woman begging so pitifully, I couldn't bring myself to say no. I placed the platter back on the table.

After all, she had lost her husband before turning thirty and raised Ethan all on her own. It hadn't been easy.

Vanessa, however, wasn't having it. "Ha! Trying to play tough, but you folded halfway through. What a fake."

"You're just putting on this 'mature, generous' show for Ethan, so he compares us and thinks you're so sweet and caring, looking after his mom like a devoted little housewife."

"Go look in a mirror. You're old and pathetic. Ethan would never want you."

Mrs. Vance hurriedly cut in, desperate to de-escalate. "Vanessa, sweetie, Joanna has a fiancé!"

Vanessa scoffed, refusing to believe a single word.

"You think I'm stupid? I know you two are lying to cover for her. Look at her desperate face. Any man who’d settle for that must be legally blind."

I thought biting my tongue would put an end to it, but she just kept pushing.

Like an annoying fly buzzing around trash, she was pure nausea-inducing.

I let out a bitter laugh.

"Not as desperate as you, not as pathetic as you, and definitely raised with more manners than you. Any man who chose you must be totally blind too."

With that, I turned to Mrs. Vance.

"Mrs. Vance, I have somewhere to be. Enjoy your dinner. Consider this meal on the house!"

I took a few steps toward the door before Mrs. Vance caught my wrist again, begging me to stay.

Ethan, feeling humiliated, sneered at me.

"Joanna, you’ve been used to being the boss since we were kids. Now that you met someone tougher than you, you can't take it and start throwing petty tantrums. So classless."

The moment he finished, Vanessa rewarded him with a loud kiss on the cheek. "Baby, that was amazing! You hate fake snakes just as much as I do, don't you?"

She gave me a condescending glance and continued her mockery. "Grandma, wake up. No matter how much you pretend to be understanding and generous, Ethan will never love you."

"The harder you try, the more hypocritical you look. By the way, throwing a tantrum just aged you ten whole years. You look like an old auntie. Hahaha!"

The rage trapped in my chest was bubbling over. I clenched my fists, about to blow up.

Ethan beat me to it. "Vanessa, you hit a raw nerve. Careful, she might hit you if she snaps. She’s been bullying me for years."

He turned to me, winking with pure malice.

"Never thought you'd see the day, huh, Joanna? Someone finally put you in your place! Let's see if you ever dare bully me again!"

Growing up, I always felt bad for him because he didn't have a dad. I treated him like my own little brother, protecting him whenever kids picked on him. I was the first one to throw hands on his behalf.

Because of that, I was a bit bossy around him, but he had never once claimed to hate it.

And now, just to impress this girl, he was biting the hand that fed him and framing me as some pathetic stalker.

I couldn't take it anymore. I flipped the entire dining table.

Dishes, soup, and plates crashed violently onto the floor.

I marched over and slapped Ethan across the face with everything I had.

"Then get the hell out of my life! Neither you nor your psycho girlfriend is even worthy of scrubbing my floors!"

Leaving them shrieking in horror, I stormed out the door.