CHAPTER 2

Jessie's shrill voice burst out of the phone before Hailey could lower it from her ear.

"Derek! Hailey slapped Helen and me! She's crazy, she's completely out of her mind! You have to come home right now!"

Hailey held the phone at arm's length and listened with a calm face while Jessie sobbed loud enough to rattle the speaker. She could see the woman on the couch, one hand pressed to her red cheek, peeking at her from behind her fingers to check that the performance was landing.

"What?!" Derek's roar came through so sharply that Liam stopped crying for a second and stared. "Hailey, have you lost your mind?!"

"Not at all," Hailey answered lightly, and she strolled toward the window with her free hand resting on her hip. "I feel better than I have in years."

Before Derek could reply, Helen lunged off the couch and snatched the phone out of her hand. The old woman clutched it with both hands, her cheek blotchy and swollen, and her voice turned instantly sweet and wounded.

"Derek, my son, don't listen to Jessie, she's upset. I only asked Hailey to lend me a little cash for a pair of earrings. That's all. And she attacked me like an animal!"

Hailey folded her arms and raised one eyebrow, and Helen glared back at her with watery, hateful eyes. The old woman had told the story so smoothly it almost sounded true.

"A little cash," Hailey repeated, her voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Helen, be honest. You wanted my whole salary."

"Shut your mouth!" Helen hissed, covering the speaker.

"Put her on speaker," Derek ordered from the phone, his voice hard. "Hailey, listen to me very carefully. You will get on your knees right now and apologize to my mother and to Jessie. Do you understand me?"

Helen smirked and tapped the screen, and Derek's voice filled the entire room. Jessie sniffled and lifted her chin, as if she had already won.

"And don't forget who you are," Derek went on, growing louder with every word. "You were a penniless orphan with nothing when my family took you in. We gave you a home. We gave you a name. You should be on your knees every day thanking us."

Hailey blinked once, slowly. Then she started to laugh, a soft, easy laugh that made Helen's smirk falter.

"Something funny?" Jessie snapped, her nostrils flaring.

"Yes, actually." Hailey wiped the corner of her eye with one finger and took a step closer to the phone. Her voice stayed perfectly calm, and each word landed with a small, sharp click. "Derek, your family is so poor that it has to live off that orphan's salary every month."

The room went completely silent. Helen's mouth dropped open, and Jessie's face flushed a deep, ugly red.

"What did you say?" Derek growled.

"You heard me. I pay the mortgage. I pay the groceries. I pay for your mother's hair appointments and Jessie's shopping sprees." Hailey tilted her head, and her lips curved into a razor thin smile. "So tell me, who exactly took in who?"

"You ungrateful little..." Derek sputtered, his voice cracking with fury. "After everything I've done for you!"

"You've done nothing for me but lie," Hailey replied lightly, and she leaned closer to the phone. "But don't worry. I'm done paying for it. The divorce papers will reach you before the end of the business day."

"Divorce papers?" Helen gasped, clutching her chest and stumbling back a step. "Hailey, don't be foolish. You can't be serious."

"I've never been more serious in my life, Helen." Hailey glanced over at her, cold and steady, and the old woman shrank back a little. "You might want to start looking for a job."

"Hailey!" Derek barked, his tone sharp and commanding. "Stop this nonsense right now. You are my wife, and you will do what I..."

He stopped mid sentence. Hailey could hear his breathing on the line, heavy and ragged, and she could almost picture him clenching his jaw as he realized the orders were not working. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to something soft and coaxing, the honeyed tone he used whenever he wanted something.

"Honey, wait. Let's not do this over the phone. I know you're upset. Maybe I was too harsh. We can talk tonight, just the two of us, and work everything out. Come on, you know I love you."

Hailey's smile stayed on her face, but her eyes went cold as ice. She had heard that exact voice on the night he told her to bring more food to the boat.

"You love me?" she asked softly.

"Of course I do, baby," Derek answered, warming up. "You know that. Think about Liam. Think about our family."

"Oh, I am thinking about them, Derek." She lifted the phone off the table, took it off speaker, and pressed it to her ear. "That's why I'm going to make this very easy for you. Sign the papers when they come."

"Hailey, wait, don't hang up..."

She pressed the red button. The screen went dark, and the room fell silent so completely that she could hear Liam sniffling in his highchair.

Jessie stared at her with wide, glassy eyes. Helen had gone pale beneath her red cheek, and her lips trembled as she gripped the arm of the couch.

"You can't do this," Helen whispered. "You can't just throw away a marriage. Where will you go?"

"Nowhere." Hailey slipped the phone into her pocket and gave her a sweet smile. "This is my house, Helen. I'm not the one who's leaving."

"Your house?" Jessie scoffed weakly, though her voice shook. "Derek's name is on the deed too."

"Then Derek can take it up with my lawyer." Hailey shrugged, already turning toward the stairs. "Oh, and Jessie, that robe you're wearing? It's mine. Take it off before you leave."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Jessie snapped, pulling the robe tighter around her.

"Whatever you say." Hailey glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes glinting with amusement. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

She climbed the stairs with a steady, unhurried pace, listening to the frantic whispers rising behind her. Helen hissed something about calling Derek back. Jessie shot back that it was useless. Their voices grew smaller and smaller until Hailey shut the bedroom door and turned the lock.

She stood there with her forehead pressed to the wood, and her heart was pounding so hard it hurt. Her fingers had begun to shake. It had felt good, so good, to see their faces crumble, but the old ache still sat heavy in her chest.

"It's fine," she told herself quietly, pressing a hand over her heart. "You're fine. They can't touch you anymore."

She crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. The black void flickered open in front of her eyes, and the cool voice rang out again, crisp and steady.

[Daily check in complete. Ten points awarded. Basic inventory unlocked.]

Hailey blinked, then let out a short, surprised laugh. "So that's how you work."

[Host has successfully set a boundary. Resistance buff awarded.]

"A resistance buff?" She raised her eyebrows, and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "For slapping my mother in law?"

[Host has protected her own resources. Bonus recorded.]

"Fair enough." Hailey rubbed her stinging palm against her knee and stared into the darkness. The pocket space felt wider than before, as if a wall inside her mind had slid back a few inches. She reached out with her thoughts, and the little sealed bag of hair floated into view and settled neatly into a new inventory slot.

"Good," she murmured. "Stay there. You're going to be very useful."

[Storage dimension has expanded slightly. Current capacity is limited. Additional space will unlock with host progress.]

"Then I'll make progress." Hailey pushed her hair back and let out a long, slow breath. "No more handing over my paycheck. Not one dollar. From now on, every cent I earn belongs to me and nobody else."

[Boundary logged. Well done, Host.]

She laughed out loud at that, a real laugh this time, and it loosened something tight in her ribs. It had been so long since anyone had told her she did something right that the words felt strange in her ears.

Downstairs, a door slammed, and she could hear Jessie's muffled shrieking and Helen's sharp voice cutting across it. Liam started to cry again. Hailey closed her eyes for a moment and let the sound wash over her without moving.

"I can't think about that now," she whispered. "I can't."

The boy was not hers. The real one was out there somewhere, and she was going to find her. That thought steadied her better than anything else could.

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and straightened her back.

"Okay," she said out loud, and her voice was firm and clear in the quiet room. "Let's make a plan."

She stared into the black void and began to count on her fingers, her mind already racing ahead. Once the lottery money cleared, she would need clean water first, more than she could carry. Then rice, canned food, and medicine. Warm coats and thick blankets, because the ice age would come fast after the flood. Fuel, tools, rope, and a boat that did not belong to anyone else.

Hailey sat on the edge of the bed with a small, determined smile, already listing the first supplies she would buy.