Chapter 2

The moment I got home and turned my phone back on, I saw Chloe’s newest social media post.

She had uploaded nine photos.

There were pictures inside the dorm, photos by the check-in sign, and even a picture of her student information form.

Under “Emergency Contact,” she had written Lauren’s name.

Relationship: Mother.

Most of the other pictures showed Chloe linking arms with Lauren, grinning from ear to ear, with the four of them posing together.

The caption was simple.

“First day of college. Thanks to my bonus mom for being here with me.”

The comments were already piling up.

“Your mom looks so young!”

“Your mom is gorgeous.”

“Both parents came for move-in day? That’s so sweet.”

Chloe replied, “They’ve always been so good to me.”

Not long after that, she called again.

She sounded angry from the second I answered.

“You’re seriously not sending me money?”

“No.”

She tried to hold back her temper.

“I needed money for dorm supplies today, plus the deposit. It was over three hundred dollars.”

“Dad paid for everything. He looked pissed.”

“He said you deliberately dumped all this on him and ruined everyone’s day. Happy now?”

My lips curled faintly.

“So let me get this straight. I’m your mother, so when I pay for you, that’s expected. But when your father pays, suddenly it’s a burden?”

She went silent for a few seconds.

Then Chloe sounded even more irritated.

“Lauren said she’d pick up my orientation materials tonight and come to the family orientation with me tomorrow.”

“So go home if you want. Stop acting like we can’t survive without you. I have Lauren and Dad. That’s enough!”

She hung up furiously.

Then she immediately made another pointed post.

“Last road trip before college, exploring a new city with Mom and Dad. From now on, Lauren is officially my bonus mom!”

Over the next few days, Sean and Lauren really didn’t come home.

Chloe posted travel pictures every day.

The four of them looked exactly like a happy family.

I didn’t react.

I simply urged my attorney to prepare the divorce papers and contacted the realtor to put the house on the market.

When the realtor asked for the ownership documents, I stared at my name on the deed and wondered how I could have been so foolish all these years.

When Sean and I got married, my parents knew he was just starting his career and didn’t have much money.

So they bought the house outright for me.

They wanted me to have security.

Something that was mine.

Yet for more than twenty years, I had poured everything I had into Sean and Chloe.

I gave them every resource I could.

And they used all of it to please Lauren.

Maybe in their eyes, I had never been anything more than a tool.

An unpaid maid.

I didn’t need a family like that.

A few evenings later, Sean came home.

The moment he walked through the door, his face darkened.

“Erin, you’ve really outdone yourself.”

He slammed his car keys onto the coffee table.

“On Chloe’s first day of college, you abandoned everything halfway through. You didn’t even give her spending money. You dumped the whole mess on me.”

“You used to obsess over this stuff. What’s with the attitude now?”

I watched him rage without expression.

Then I finally answered.

“You’ve ignored me for years.”

“I stopped taking care of everything for half a day, and you’re already this angry?”

Sean froze for a second before getting even angrier.

“You’re still throwing a tantrum? She’s your daughter! You missed an important moment in her life over something this petty!”

“I spent over three hundred dollars on her move-in because you refused to handle it. In the end, I had to pay!”

I smiled.

“You never complain when you spend money on Lauren.”

“But when it’s Chloe, suddenly it’s my fault?”

“She’s your daughter too. You just never wanted to pay because you knew I’d always cover it.”

His expression stiffened.

“Why are you dragging Lauren into this again? Do you have any idea how much she’s done for you these past few days?”

“She ran around doing everything because you, Chloe’s actual mother, refused to show up. And she didn’t complain once.”

I looked at him.

“Of course she didn’t.”

“She practically looks like the woman of this house now, doesn’t she?”

Sean’s face turned livid.

“You’re impossible.”

I didn’t bother arguing anymore.

Instead, I pulled up a transaction record and shoved it in front of him.

It was dated yesterday.

Fifty thousand dollars had been transferred to Lauren.

Memo: College preparation.

“Explain this.”

Sean looked at the transaction.

His brows snapped together.