Chapter 2

The glaring red walls put me on edge.

“Do we have any blue paint left?”

Rebecca’s frown deepened.

“Why would we keep something like that in the house? What if Lenny swallowed some? Just leave it. Red’s bright and cheerful. That blue was so dreary and suffocating.”

She gave me a dismissive glance, but something in that look made my heart sink.

For a moment, I could not tell whether she meant the color was suffocating or I was.

I stood in the doorway as she took a pair of boxers off a hanger and carried them into the guest bedroom next door. She did not seem to care that I was watching.

Even that brief exposure to the fragrance had left me itching all over. I had scratched my arms raw.

I held my breath, went over to the drawer, and pulled it open.

It was full of Kirk’s skincare products.

“Where’s my allergy medication?”

Rebecca was about to walk over to me when Kirk’s scream sounded from downstairs.

“Kirk, what’s going on?”

She immediately turned and rushed downstairs.

I did not ask again. I found the first aid kit and swallowed a loratadine tablet.

As I sat on the bed in a daze, I thought back to our first year in business. I had tested fragrance samples from the factory despite the unbearable itching all over my body.

It was Rebecca who found me unconscious in the office. She had called an ambulance and later taken me home.

The next morning, I opened my door to find her asleep on the floor outside.

She said she had been afraid something might happen to me during the night with no one around to help, so she had stayed outside my door until morning.

That was when I knew she was the woman I wanted to marry. However…

I stood at the top of the stairs and watched Rebecca slip Kirk’s burned finger into her mouth.

Kirk spotted me and hastily pulled his hand away.

“Miller, all settled in? Come down and have dinner.”

I shook my head. “Eat without me.”

Not long afterward, Rebecca brought a plate of food upstairs and set it down hard on the table.

“You’re finally home after so long. Do you really have to give us that attitude? Kirk was so worried he had upset you that he didn’t eat a thing. He just took Lenny back to their room.”

I pulled up my pant leg to reveal the dark bruise.

“I came back to my own home, only to be beaten by a security guard who thought I was a thief. Everything the housekeeper made was spicy. Spicy food hurts my stomach.”

My voice was painfully hoarse. “I’m not sulking. I’m just exhausted.”

Rebecca’s expression softened a little.

“The guard’s new. Understandably, he didn’t recognize you.”

I said nothing.

Kirk had been a stay-at-home husband for ten years. After his divorce, no one would hire him.

I gave him a job at my company and trained him myself.

However, he carelessly left a zero out of a bid. The mistake cost the company nearly a hundred million on the project.

To make up for the loss, I volunteered for an overseas assignment in Aurelune.

Before I left, I reminded Rebecca over and over to take good care of him.

I had never imagined that during the six months I was away, he would become the man of my house.

The new guard did not recognize me, but he knew Rebecca adored Kirk.

Rebecca crouched down to examine my injury.

“It’s just a bruise. I’ll put some ointment on it later.”

She turned and walked away.

“I’ll take Kirk and Lenny out for dinner and order you some takeout while I’m at it.”

Familiar footsteps came up the stairs, and I hurried over to meet them.

“Dad, Mom, are you back from your treatment?”

My mother gripped my hand.

“Miller, you’ve lost weight!”

“I’m fine. Dad, let me help you back to your room.”

My father doubled over with a coughing fit, yet he still tried to reassure me. “I… I’m fine. I can do it myself.”

He turned and braced one hand against the wall as he stumbled down the stairs.

I froze. “Isn’t your room that way?”

Mom said hesitantly, “We have trouble getting around. The stairs are difficult for us, so Rebecca moved us downstairs.”

I followed my parents into the basement.

Their room was less than forty-three square feet. It held a single bed and did not even have a window.

My voice shook. “How could she make you live somewhere like this?”