Chapter 4

The whole thing was so absurd I didn't want to waste another word on her.

Then Matilda leaned close to my ear and dropped her voice.

"Before you quit the station, someone showed up making a scene, saying you'd seduced a married man."

"Do you have any idea? Edwin paid that person to do it."

A ringing filled my ears, and I could barely stay on my feet.

"He wanted you to stay home and out of the public eye, but he was afraid that if he said it outright you wouldn't quit. So he came up with that."

Matilda wasn't finished. "Lorna, your daughter's a worthless little burden and she doesn't even rate her own bedroom. Don't tell me you actually think you're the lady of this house."

"Her own father can't stand the two of you, and here you are putting on airs like the woman of the house."

My chest was heaving. I shoved him hard.

"Say one more word about my daughter. Go ahead."

She was about to fire back when Edwin came in from the study. "What's all the noise?"

Matilda's eyes went red in an instant. "Edwin, she just went crazy and hit me!"

Edwin slapped me across the face. "Who said you could touch her?"

My left cheek burned. I swallowed a mouthful of blood and said quietly,

"Edwin, is there anything else you've been keeping from me?"

He shook out his hand and looked at me like I was some lunatic throwing a tantrum.

"No. Stop chasing shadows."

Ten years of trust, and now the pieces were too broken to fit back together.

I packed my suitcase, picked up my daughter, and checked into a hotel nearby.

I hesitated a long while before I took out my phone and messaged Yvonne.

【Yvonne, I'll come to Crestport. Can I get an advance on my pay?】

Yvonne answered almost the second I sent it: 【Yes. I'll set up the paperwork tomorrow. Pack up and come whenever you're ready.】

【Don't worry about housing. The station can arrange a dorm.】

The day before I left, I went back to the house.

My daughter had a gold longevity locket, the one my parents left before they passed.

I'd just pulled open the drawer and taken it out when Matilda shrieked,

"Lorna, you shameless woman. You already moved out and now you come back to steal things!"

The front door was open, and a few neighbors poked their heads in to look.

Seeing them, Matilda put a wounded sob into her voice. "I'm Edwin's real wife. She's the other woman who forced her way in, and she even had a child in secret to try and push me out."

"Now that I've caught her, she's come back to get even by stealing!"

The neighbor, Cindy Lambert, looked at me with disgust. "Kids these days really have no shame."

I was shaking with anger. "This is my daughter's locket. I didn't steal it."

Edwin walked in right then, his voice flat.

"Matilda's right. How is what you're doing any different from stealing? Stop embarrassing yourself and get out."

"I'd like to see whether you can even survive without me."

I didn't argue anymore. As I turned to leave, Matilda tripped me from behind.

I stumbled and fell, my knee cracking against the doorframe, a big bruise already blooming.

I bent down and kissed my daughter's little face, red from crying, and said in a hoarse voice,

"Mommy's taking you away. This time, we're never coming back."