Chapter 2

A voice message from Linda on Snapchat.

I frowned and opened it.

"Ellie, honey, the hotel comfy?"

"So… since you're not coming home… can you transfer this month's allowance over?"

"It's urgent. There's a limited skin in the game store, goes away at midnight."

I took a deep breath and typed back: "Linda, go ahead and waste away in that game for the rest of your life."

Then I transferred five hundred dollars with a note: [Buy yourself a coffin.]

A second later, I blocked her.

What I didn't know was that on the other end of the call, Linda looked at that transfer notification and tugged the corner of her mouth into a small smile.

With trembling fingers, she unlocked the screen — a phone with no games installed on it at all — and opened a delivery app. She placed an order for a box of painkillers and a pack of adult diapers.

Account balance: $23.50.

"That's enough… two more days…"

She said it softly to herself, then tried to roll over. A bolt of pain cut through her and she let out a muffled groan.

---

Without Linda dragging me down, my career moved fast.

The company was gearing up for Series A funding. As the founder, every day was packed.

I had something to prove to Linda. That I was better off without her. That I was doing more than fine.

Then, about a month later, I decided to sell the old apartment and free up capital.

The property was in my name. Years ago, Linda had transferred the title to me to keep my father from gambling it away.

The day I brought a real estate agent to see the place, I timed it deliberately — during what should have been Linda's afternoon nap.

The door swung open and a wave of stale, sour air hit us both.

The agent stepped back, hand over his nose, and glanced at me. "Ms. Harris, this is…"

My face burned. I pushed inside.

The living room curtains were drawn tight. It was dim and stifling.

Linda was sprawled on the couch under a blanket.

The coffee table was buried under takeout containers and bottles. The floor was covered in crumpled tissues.

She heard us and lifted her eyelids. When she saw me, her eyes shifted.

"Well," she said, voice raw. "Ms. Harris herself. To what do I owe the honor?"

I crossed the room and yanked the curtains open.

Sunlight poured in, lighting up a storm of dust swirling in the air.

Linda reflexively raised a hand to shield her face.

"I'm selling the apartment. I've rented you a studio. You'll move in a few days." I told her. Not a question.

Linda lowered her hand and squinted at me. Then she smiled — slow, showing her two front teeth.

"Selling? Sure."

"But I have one condition."

Those misshapen hands of hers extended two of the fingers that still moved.

"I want half the sale price."

"Otherwise I'm staying right here, and I'd love to see who's brave enough to buy it."

The agent drew a sharp breath and gave me a sympathetic look.

Every drop of blood in my body rushed to my head.

Half? That was hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Linda, have you lost your mind?"

"You signed this place over to me voluntarily years ago. You've been living off me ever since. And now you want half the money?"

"I was foolish back then." Linda maneuvered one trembling hand toward her water glass on the table. She missed. Water soaked through her clothes. She didn't seem to care — she even rubbed it deliberately into the couch cushion.

"I have no job. No insurance. If you don't support me, who will?"

"Give me two hundred thousand, and I walk out of here today. I won't get in the way of your big career."

"Fine." I nodded. I pulled a bank card from my purse — the company's reserve fund. "Fifty thousand now. The rest when the sale closes."

"Now. Get out."

I snapped the card onto her.

The edge of the card caught her cheek. It left a thin red line.

Linda didn't flinch. She grabbed the card, brought it to her lips, and kissed it.

"Deal."

She pressed her hands against the arm of the couch and tried to stand.

Her legs didn't respond. The moment she shifted her weight, her whole body pitched forward and she went straight down.

The impact was loud.

I stood where I was and watched. Cold.

Another performance.

She'd been pulling this since I was a child. I'd seen it a hundred times.

"Save it. The agent's right here. You want to embarrass yourself?"

Linda lay face-down on the floor, her face buried in a pile of tissues.

A long moment passed.

Then she let out a low, quiet laugh.

"Oh my… legs fell asleep… guess I'm just getting old…"

"Give me a minute, Ms. Harris… I'll grab a few things and get out of your hair… I'm sorry for the trouble…"

Inch by inch, she began to crawl toward the bedroom.

Something flickered in my chest watching her move like that. But the feeling was quickly buried under disgust.

She was just lazy. Too lazy to bother walking.

---

In the month after Linda moved out, my company closed its funding round.

I treated that fifty thousand dollars as the final price of severing a family tie.

I thought I was free.

Then one day, my fiancé, James, suggested we swing by and pick up my ID documents to start the marriage paperwork.

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