Chapter 10
My parents dragged me all the way home.
The moment the door shut, the shouting began.
My brother, Ryan Carter, lounged on the couch with one leg crossed over the other, casually cracking sunflower seeds.
watching like it was a show.
“Did you get dropped on your head as a kid? You dared bring up divorce with Hunter?!”
“At your age, you’re not still dreaming about love, are you?”
My father’s temples throbbed violently, spit nearly sprayed onto my face.
“Love? Love is bullshit! Can love put food on the table or money in your pocket? A catch like Hunter–people dream their
whole lives to climb up to him! And you’re trying to push him away?!”
I rubbed the back of my head, where a painful lump was forming.
I looked up at their distorted faces and asked hoarsely,
“Is money… more important than me?”
My mother laughed and spat disdainfully to the side.
“You? What do you amount to? Without Hunter, you’re nothing!”
My eyes widened. The blood in my veins felt frozen.
The disgust and contempt in their eyes stabbed straight into my heart.
Seeing me fall silent, they assumed I had given in–and grew even more relentless.
“Men fool around outside–it’s no big deal! As a wife, your duty is to take care of him at home and hurry up and give him
a son to tie him down!”
“If he’s willing to come home, you should be grateful and serve him properly! That’s your blessing!”
“Him wanting you is a gift! Don’t be ungrateful!”
A gift?
A blessing?
The rage I had suppressed across two lifetimes finally shattered every shred of restraint
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“Why–?!!”
I shot to my feet and flipped the coffee table with all my strength.
Glass cups, fruit plates, and ashtrays exploded across the floor. Sunflower seed shells flew everywhere.
As my family stared in shock, I spun around and rushed into the kitchen, grabbing the heavy cleaver used for chopping
bones.
I turned back, gripping it tightly, staring them down.
“How interesting.”
“He cheats, and you defend him? Then you go live with him!”
“We’re all human–why should I grovel just to please him?!”
“Hunter–who the hell does he think he is?!”
The sight of the blade silenced them instantly.
“So all you know how to do is tear me down, huh?!”
I raised my voice, releasing years of pent–up resentment and fury.
“You think I’m worthless? That I can’t survive without a man?!”
I bent down, grabbed a mop from the floor–knife in one hand, mop in the other.
My eyes swept across the living room.
That seventy–inch TV–I bought it with prize money from my first photography award.
That double–door refrigerator–I paid for it by taking weekend shoots.
From furniture and appliances down to pots and bowls–everything in this house was mine.
This house–what isn’t paid for by me?!”
I swung the mop and smashed it into the expensive TV.
Bang–crash!
The screen shattered.
“You really think all this was charity from Hunter?!”
Clang!
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I slammed the mop into the refrigerator door, leaving a deep dent.
“Using my things, spending my money–and you still have the nerve to look down on me?!”
I smashed and screamed, leaving destruction in my wake.
My father’s face turned ashen with rage.
He grabbed a mop handle from the corner, ready to strike–but froze when the gleaming cleaver caught the light.
My mom wailed and raged, calling me ungrateful, crazy, and a curse. And Ryan, afraid of getting hurt, fled back into his
room.
This chaotic, desperate farce finally ended with the arrival of the police.
Apparently, the neighbors had had enough and called them.
Chapter 10
