Chapter 4

Madison stormed over as well.

"Peter, you hit Simon and attacked my mom? Have you completely lost your mind?"

I let out a bitter laugh and pointed at Simon, who was still throwing a fit on the floor. "Ask him what he did."

Simon ignored me. He clung to Andrew's pant leg and kept screaming, "Hit him! Hit him! Kill him!"

I scoffed and looked at all three of them.

"Fine. If he won't tell you, I will.

"He climbed into Zoe's bed this morning and tried to pull down her shorts. If I'd gotten there a minute later, God only knows what he might've done to my daughter.

"Is that serious enough for you? Did he deserve to be punished?"

Then I pointed at Madison.

"You're her mother. You tell me. Did he deserve it?"

Madison had never seen me this furious. Her lips parted, but she couldn't bring herself to answer.

Simon, who had been kicking and screaming on the floor, suddenly jumped up and came at me. Before I could react, he sank his teeth into my arm.

He bit down as hard as he could, growling like a feral animal. I couldn't pry him off, so I grabbed him by the throat and squeezed until he finally released me.

When we pulled apart, blood stained the corner of his mouth, and two deep rows of teeth marks were embedded in my arm.

He coughed for a long time. Once he caught his breath, he glared at me again, his eyes filled with a level of hatred no ten-year-old should have been capable of.

"This is my house. Everything here belongs to me! If I'm not allowed to look at girls at school, why can't I look at Zoe at home? Who are you to tell me what to do? You're nobody! You're not even really part of this family!"

The moment those words left his mouth, every adult in the room went still.

No child could come up with something like that on his own, not with that much confidence. He had clearly heard it often enough to memorize it.

There was only one reason he would have heard it so many times: the adults in that house had been saying it behind my back.

All at once, I lost any desire to keep arguing. I pulled a few bandages from the drawer and covered the bite marks, then walked over to Madison and held out my hand.

"Give me my debit card."

Madison stared at me, clearly not understanding.

"My debit card. Now!" I shouted again.

Madison flinched, rushed to the drawer, and handed it to me.

"Zoe and I are leaving today. You can do whatever you want. If you think Simon needs you more than your own daughter does, then stay here and take care of him."

With that, I pulled a suitcase out from under the bed and started packing Zoe's things and mine.

Grace was still sitting on the floor, cursing and carrying on. Suddenly, she let out a cold laugh.

"Well, look at you. Finally decided you're too good for this family and want a place of your own? Fine. Then pay us all the rent you owe for the years you've lived here. This house isn't a charity."

My hands stilled, and a humorless smile crossed my face. If she wanted to keep score, I was ready.

"Fine. Since we're settling accounts, make sure you add up what you owe me for all the years I've spent as this family's unpaid cook, maid, handyman, and plumber.

"That includes making three meals a day, cleaning the house, unclogging drains, and fixing broken appliances.

"And don't forget all the diapers I washed after Simon was born because you refused to hire any help. Be sure to include that, too.

"And unless I'm forgetting something, I've covered almost all of Simon's expenses since he started preschool. His food, clothes, school fees, transportation, everything. Add that to the total, too.

"Once you're done, give me an itemized bill, and we'll settle everything once and for all."