Chapter 4

Faced with the whole Lambert clan hurling accusations at me, I kept my grip tight on the one point that mattered.

"Isn't that what you all said? That Edith is the Lambert family's daughter-in-law, and she does whatever she's told? Eating a mouthful of dirt won't cost her a pound of flesh, so surely she can manage a little thing like that?"

"Ugh—"

Edith clapped a hand over her mouth and bolted for the bathroom to throw up.

"Get out of my house right now. The Lambert family has no daughter-in-law like you."

I picked up my bag and turned to leave.

At the door I looked back at Ethel and said mildly, "Professor Chavez, next time you brag, maybe work out your story a little better first."

"You—"

Ethel jabbed a finger at me, and came up with nothing. In the end she took it out on Dustin.

"Dustin, you go to the study right now and copy out the old family code of conduct a hundred times. You don't eat until you're finished."

Dustin glanced nervously at Ethel, then at me, misery all over his face.

I looked at him with a faint smile on my lips.

Some things nobody else can do for you. If you can't walk out of it yourself, then you deserve to spend your whole life under someone's thumb.

Something seemed to firm up in Dustin when he saw my smile. He strode over to my side, took my hand, and walked out the front door with me.

"Dustin, you dare disobey me? Just wait. See how I deal with you."

Once we were outside, we got in the car. I drove, Dustin sat in the passenger seat, his face uneasy.

"Amy, do you think we went a little too far today? My mom's always been domineering. She lost face this time because of you, and there's no telling how she'll get back at us."

I kept driving, and answered without any hurry, "So you think I should have just let your mom push me around today, done whatever she told me to?"

"I—I didn't mean that."

"I know you didn't mean that, and I know what you're thinking. If you want to give in, you can go back right now and apologize to your mom, promise to do whatever she says from now on."

Dustin heard that and his hands clenched into fists. "Not this time. Not anymore."

"As long as you can hold the line, that's fine by me. Your mom wants to push me around? No chance."

Before I could even finish, Dustin's phone rang.

He put it on speaker, and Bernard's voice came through at once.

"Dustin, you gave Mom such a scare her blood pressure spiked. She's in the hospital now. Get down here and look after her immediately."

Pure command in Bernard's tone. He hung up before Dustin could get a word in.

Dustin looked at me, worried. "Amy, my mom's in the hospital. Shouldn't we go over there now?"

"Of course we're going to the hospital. But once we're there, you do as I say."

"Okay. Whatever you say."

"Then your job is this. From the moment we walk into that hospital, you record every conversation with your mom. Every word, every move."

"Okay. I promise."

Dustin and I got to the hospital. Ethel was lying in the bed scrolling on her phone, not looking the least bit sick.

The moment she saw us come in, she started up in that snide tone. "Well, well, and who might these two be? Isn't that my most unfilial son and that woman with no manners?"

That set the patients in the beds nearby all turning to look.

Dustin's face went red. I didn't care about any of that. I said it straight out. "Professor Chavez, you have two sons and a daughter. You get sick, and the first ones to come to the hospital and take care of you are your most unfilial son and this woman with no manners."