Chapter 2

I stared at the note, and a chill ran through me.

If Liam had kept it from me because he thought I would complain about wasting money on another toy, I could understand that.

But what was he supposed to mean by telling Trixie that I worked hard to make money while only he wanted her to be happy?

He was brainwashing five-year-old Trixie into believing that everything I did was for myself, while he was the only one who truly cared about her.

I took a picture of the note and put it back.

Then I stepped out of Trixie's room and found the master bedroom door ajar.

I could hear the shower running. Gina was in the bathroom.

Liam was on the couch, playing a game with my controller.

He was startled when he heard me. "Jordan, you're still up?"

Liam wouldn't look me in the eye. "I thought your controller might be broken, so I was checking it out."

I had only unboxed it last week. It couldn't have been broken.

I leaned against the doorframe and studied him. "Liam, you really have a thing for using other people's stuff."

Liam's face went pale in an instant. "Jordan, if I'm causing you trouble, I'll move out tomorrow."

If this had happened before, I would have told him he was overthinking it.

Tonight, I merely smiled.

"You don't have to. You get taken care of here, there's someone to spoil you, and you don't even have to spend a dime."

Liam went still.

The shower stopped. Gina came out wrapped in a towel just in time to hear me.

She frowned. "Jordan, what's with the attitude? Liam helps with Trixie and cooks for us. Not thanking him is one thing, but do you really have to be so nasty?"

I looked at Gina, whom I had shared a bed with for seven years.

She'd rushed to Liam's defense faster than she had ever defended me.

"I'm tired." I went straight to bed and turned my back on them.

Then I added, "Gina, sign Trixie up for an art class tomorrow. The fee is four thousand dollars. You can pay for it."

"Four thousand dollars? Have you lost your mind? We don't have that kind of money to throw around!" Gina argued.

"Didn't you spend more than five thousand dollars on that watch last week?" I asked.

Gina fell silent.

Liam stood to the side. "Jordan, please don't fight over me. This is all my fault."

"It's not your fault. Jordan's acting like a total jerk! He's being unreasonable!" Gina shouted.

She stormed out and took Liam to the guest room. "Ignore him. You can sleep in the guest room tonight. I'll bring you some blankets."

I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling in the dark.

The Barbie doll and the note came to mind. Then I remembered the plain band on Liam's ring finger when he was playing that game.

It was a classic Cartier ring. Gina had one too.

She had told me hers was just a ring she'd bought to wear with her business clothes.

So they were actually a matching set.

I pulled out my phone and opened my banking app.

I wanted to find out just how much of our money was gone.