Chapter 73

Rushing, though not speeding, I am somehow able to get the girls to school on time and myself to work one minute to nine. I still feel late. I like to be early, giving myself enough time to prepare for the day. It still bothers me about my phone. I have it password protected, how did my alarms get removed?

I can’t spend too much time thinking about it, though, not with work to do. Kimberly loads me up with assignments and just like that everything is back to normal – with the notable absence of Amber, her desk fully empty.

Several people stop me throughout the day to ask about my health.

Hugo himself makes a trip to my desk to make sure I’m okay.

“If I had ever suspected that Amber would have tried to actually hurt you…” he starts.

“It’s not your fault,” I say. I should have told him about the bullying sooner. Or I should have spoken to Miles. I don’t know if either of those things would have helped, but that doesn’t change that Hugo isn’t to blame.

Hugo shakes his head. “As heir to the company, it’s my duty to protect the employees. Miles was right to say what he did to me.”

Miles? “What did he say?” I ask.

“He didn’t tell you?” Hugo says, tilting his head as he looks at me.

“No…”

Hugo studies me a moment. “Maybe it’s best that I don’t say, in that case.”

I want to argue, but he is still my boss, especially in this moment in the office with us both on the clock.

Although maybe who I should hear the story from is Miles. If I thought he would give me the true, full story…

I never did hear what he’s planning to do about Amber. Are they still going to be friends?

This isn’t the time for such musings. “I’ll speak with Miles on it then.”

Hugo nods. “I’m glad you are feeling better, Esther. No more scares.”

“I agree,” I tell him. After he heads off, I return to my tasks, hopeful to make up some of my missed work from the day before.

So focused on doing my best, the day passes rather quickly. I look up once and it’s 1pm. I look up again and it’s 5, time to go.

Packing my things, I stop at the bathroom on the way out and refresh my makeup and my hair. To meet my parents at the time they finally texted me this morning, I have to go straight there.

Davis, the family butler, opens the door for me. The moment I catch sight of his face in the light of the entryway, I realize I’m in for a world of trouble. His usually neutral face is tight. He looks at me like he’s almost pained.

I know better than to ask him what’s wrong. As my father’s employee, he would never share anything privy with me. But this look from him is warning enough.

Tonight is not going to be what I expect.

“Your parents are in the den,” Davis says. “Shall I escort you there?”

“I can find the way. Thank you,” I tell him. I take a moment to collect myself, taking a deep breath, then I set off in the way of the den.

When I get there, both of my parents are sitting on the couch with Thea between them. Fat, ugly tears roll down Thea’s cheeks. Her nose is red, her eyes bloodshot. The instant she spots me, her sobs wail louder, her shrieking higher.

Father and I wince. Mother pats Thea’s back. “There, there.”

“I don’t want her here!” Thea cries. “This is all her fault! I wanted to wait and make this a joyful occasion, but she’s forcing my hand. If I don’t tell everyone now that I’m pregnant, she’ll turn the whole family against me!”

“She won’t,” Father says sternly.

“You can’t believe that,” I say, stepping closer. “I would never!”

“Then what was the news you wished to share tonight?” Father asks. “If not news of Thea’s pregnancy?”

He has me there. I did come here tonight to share that tidbit, but only so that I could be ahead of this very storm. Thea beat me to it once again, thanks to her open access to a house I needed permission to enter.

I should have known. I should have told mom on the phone last night.

But would that even made a difference?

“You do realize that the father is Garnar?” I point out. “My husband.”

Surely the shame of it all would push their judgement onto the actual guilty parties here. All I am guilty of is having my husband cheat on me with my sister.

“Grandchildren are blessings,” Mom says, combing her fingers through Thea’s hair like she did when Thea was a child.

I watch, ever on the outside, somehow feeling like a lonely girl again.

“I don’t understand how you can be okay with this,” I say, baffled by everything in front of me.

“We aren’t okay with it,” Father says. “Thea has made mistakes. But that’s all the more reason for the family to stand around her. We stand together or not at all, haven’t I taught you that, Esther?”

“You have, Father, but –”

“Not only have you failed to protect your sister, Esther. But you also attempted to turn the family against her in her time of crisis. This cannot and will not be tolerated, am I understood?”

I want to argue, but what good would it do? Thea is like a siren. They are too far gone, under the enchantment of her song.

“Yes, sir,” I say.

“Get out,” Mother says to me, suddenly viscous.

“What about dinner?” I ask.

“I can’t stand the sight of you.”

My heart sinks low.

“We are very disappointed in you, Esther,” Father says. “This woman standing before us now is not the girl that we helped raise.”

Properly dismissed now, I turn around and walk out the way I came in.

Davis, as if having expected it, is still standing by the door. Without a word, he opens it for me. I nod to him as I step outside. He closes the door behind me and I hear the lock flip into place.

Inside my sister is being consoled by our parents. My husband’s pregnant mistress receives the sympathy while I’m out in the cold alone.

In some universe, maybe this makes sense. But here in this one, I can’t wrap my mind around it.

I start to walk to my car, confused and hurt all jumbled up inside of me.

Just as I reach the driver’s side door, the front door of the house pops open.

Hope rises in my heart. Maybe my parents were struck with some kind of sense and want to apologize. I know it’s unlikely, but I still hope.

They might not be my blood relations, but they are still my parents too.

That should mean something, shouldn’t it?

I turn, my heart in my throat.

Immediately it’s punched out of me.

Thea is there, her crocodile tears drying on her cheeks.

“You should know better than to fuck with me,” she says.