Chapter 5

Grace's face went from red to pale.

Madison quickly stepped in to calm things down.

"Peter, come on. Mom only said that because she didn't want you to leave. She was trying to scare you, and you actually took her seriously. You really don't know how to take a joke. Alright, enough. It's over. I'll talk to Simon again later. That kid never listens."

As she spoke, she reached into the suitcase and started putting the clothes back, but I stopped her.

"Madison, I've already made up my mind. I told you a long time ago that I wanted us to move out, and you refused. I'm not backing down this time. Even if nothing had happened to Zoe today, I still wouldn't stay in this house any longer."

Andrew slammed the end of his wooden practice sword against the floor.

"Let him go! Let's see how long he lasts on his own!"

-

With help from a coworker, I quickly found an apartment. It was a brand-new, fully furnished two-bedroom with a bright, spacious living room.

Best of all, the landlord, Vanessa Meyer, ran an after-school program downstairs. It would save me a huge amount of time driving Zoe back and forth every day.

I loved the apartment, and Vanessa seemed just as happy to have us as tenants, especially Zoe. Whenever she spoke to Zoe, she crouched down to her level and listened with genuine patience.

When I pulled out my debit card to pay the rent, I discovered there was far less money in the account than I expected.

I didn't need anyone to explain where it had gone. Madison had obviously been funneling money to Grace and the rest of her family behind my back. No wonder she always changed the subject whenever I asked whether we had enough saved for a down payment.

Deep down, she never wanted us to buy a place of our own. She wanted to keep me trapped in that house, working myself to exhaustion while her entire family treated me like hired help.

No one would willingly spend ten years living under their in-laws' roof.

When Madison and I first started talking about marriage, I had made my plans clear. We would rent for a few years, work hard, and save enough for a home of our own.

At the time, Madison was still an only child even though Grace and Andrew had already started talking about having another baby. Like many older couples who regretted stopping at one child, they were determined to expand their family despite their age.

But they never told us they were considering having another child.

Instead, to stop us from renting a place of our own, they told me Madison was their only child and the house would feel empty if she moved out. They said living together would save money, keep the family close, and make it easier for everyone to look out for one another.

After Madison and her parents took turns talking me into it, I finally gave in and moved into their house. Back in my hometown, people started joking that I had married into her family.

I used to insist that wasn't true. As far as I was concerned, marrying into your wife's family meant fully becoming part of her household and having your children take her last name.

I was only living with my in-laws temporarily. That was completely different.

But no one cared about the technicality. They laughed at me.

"You live under your father-in-law's roof, don't you? You spend every day taking care of your wife's parents, don't you? Call it whatever you want. A real man would get a place of his own."

Over the next ten years, I thought about buying a house more times than I could count, but reality shut the idea down every time.

I never imagined home prices in the city would rise so fast. Within just a few years, houses that once seemed within reach became completely unaffordable.