Chapter 4

To keep Sid off my back, I didn't refuse.

But I didn't agree either, so after chewing on it for a bit I just typed back a single "1."

It meant I'd seen the message.

That "1" made Sid furious.

After he and Alison flooded my messages with thousands of words each, he unilaterally launched into a cold war with me.

Still, I knew every last detail of what he did back at Alison's hometown.

Not because I went digging. They set up a group chat specifically to "punish" me, posting videos in it, broadcasting the whole thing to me in real time.

The first video was their rolling country feast.

Sid on his knees, kowtowing to Jordan and Margot.

"From now on you're my real parents. People laugh at you for having only a daughter, for dying out with no line to carry on, but after today that's over."

"I'm your son now. Alison and I are going to have three kids, and they'll take all three of our surnames. Let's see who dares say the Hansens have no one to carry the name!"

The second video was Alison explaining to the camera.

"So having a son means you have to put up with a daughter-in-law's abuse, but having a daughter means you get to claim someone else's son!"

"From now on Sid is the Hansen family's live-in son-in-law!"

Some of the others looked envious, but one still asked, "And Sid's parents are okay with this?"

Alison smiled.

"I don't have in-laws. My in-laws died a long time ago. Right, Sid?"

Sid gave a stiff little laugh. He knew the video was being sent for me to watch, so he didn't dare look at the camera, but his voice was firm enough.

"Right, right, right."

"I don't have birth parents anymore. From now on Alison's parents are my parents!"

The third video was Jordan and Margot.

"Our daughter and son-in-law are so devoted. They've set us up with a place in the city, still being renovated."

"No need to keep an eye on it, there's a maid watching over it. Once I move in, I'll have a maid to order around!"

....

Seven:

There were a lot of videos like that, and I watched every single one, because I had to watch them to be sure of exactly what kind of thing I'd raised.

When Sid saw I still hadn't replied after a long while, he got scared I'd drop dead from the anger, so he added a few soft words telling me not to be upset.

Of course I wasn't upset.

I just saved all of the videos, to keep for later.

In the days that followed.

They stayed back in the hometown. Not that they didn't want to come back, but not long after the feast, Alison found out she was pregnant.

They figured coming back just meant renting again, and I'd probably dump the renovation-watching on them, plus they decided the country air back home was better, more natural, so they'd wait until I finished the renovation to talk about it.

"We've decided this first child will take the Hansen name, but by blood he's still your grandson."

"You're about to have a grandson, so put your heart into that renovation, and then some!"

"When it's done, you move right in and breathe out the formaldehyde, but you can't sleep in a bedroom. You can only sleep in the maid's quarters."

"Because that's mine and Alison's home. We're the owners and we haven't even moved in yet. If you sleep there it'd bring bad luck."

"We already promised you a bedroom anyway, so there's no need for you to rush."

I wasn't upset.

I just answered them.

"I'll let you know when the renovation's finished."

In the days after that, we had a quiet mutual understanding and didn't contact each other.

I couldn't be bothered to reach out to them, and they were afraid I'd guilt-trip them, complaining about how hard and exhausting the renovation was.

It wasn't until a year later, when the renovation was fully done and the formaldehyde readings had dropped to a safe level, that they came home carrying the newborn, "Brad Hansen."

But the moment she stepped through the door.

Alison let out a scream.

"How could this happen?"

"What did you do to my house?"