Chapter 2

Before I could even get a word out, Brenda kept going, getting more worked up by the second.

"Mia is Tyler’s flesh and blood. She’s real family! What’s wrong with her using some cash? But look at you—betraying your own husband and giving our wedding gifts to your brother."

"Your brother doesn't live under this roof. Who made him family?"

Mia finally peeled her eyes away from her screen. She smirked, chiming in to back her mother up.

"Seriously, Chloe, you’re being way too cheap. It’s just fifty grand."

"Besides, I bought the car so my commute would be easier. It’s not like I blew it on nonsense. Making such a huge scene… how do you think that makes our family look in front of all the relatives?"

She acted so entitled, as if that fifty grand had belonged to her all along.

Watching the three of them gang up on me so seamlessly, a bone-deep chill washed over me.

Three years of relationship felt like having a bucket of freezing ice water dumped over my head.

I went cold from top to bottom.

I was done wasting my breath. I grabbed my purse, took my brother Liam by the hand, and turned toward the door.

"If we can't settle this, we're getting a divorce."

Tyler shouted after me, but I didn't look back.

"Chloe! Stop right there! What kind of stunt are you pulling on our wedding day?!"

"Chloe! Get your ass back here!"

I pulled Liam quickly through the living room. The room was packed with guests, all staring at us and whispering among themselves.

I ignored every single one of them. Walking down the stairs in my wedding heels, the skin on my heels rubbed raw and bleeding, but I didn't care.

Only when we walked out of the building complex did Liam finally speak.

"Chloe..." His voice sounded thick. "Mom and Dad were just talking about how much they were going to miss you this morning."

"They got up at the crack of dawn to get everything ready. Mom kept worrying that fifty grand wasn't enough, terrified that your in-laws would look down on you."

"And then you walk into this..."

He paused, looking up at me with reddened eyes.

"You shouldn't have married him."

I didn't answer. I stood on the sidewalk letting the cold wind hit my face, my mind a chaotic mess.

Three years.

Tyler and I had been together for three years. We met in a college club, moved in together after graduation, and went all the way to planning a wedding.

My parents had hesitated from the very beginning.

They thought Tyler lacked ambition, came from a messy family background, and feared I would suffer.

Back then, I thought love was all that mattered.

We could earn money together; we could build a life together.

Tyler had treated me so well.

He would bring me an umbrella in the pouring rain, make me soup when I was sick, and pick me up from work when I had to pull late shifts.

I foolishly thought that was enough.

Yet the moment we signed the marriage license, reality slapped me hard across the face.

Fifty thousand dollars. He transferred it straight to his sister without even giving me a heads-up.

As if that money had always belonged to his family.

When we got back to my parents' house, I pushed the front door open. My mom was in the living room wiping down the coffee table.

Seeing me standing there in my wedding dress, the rag slipped straight from her hand and hit the floor.

"Chloe? Why are you back?"