Chapter 3

She gave me that disappointed look. "How pricey can vitamins even be? We're family. We've got decades left together—how'd you get this petty?"

I looked around at their shocked, devastated faces—and laughed. Cold. "Family? YOU'RE all family. I'm just the outsider."

"Don't go, babe! Please!" Adrian snapped out of his pity spiral and grabbed my leg. "Is it 'cause I didn't care enough? Is that why?

"I'll change. I'll put you first, I swear. Just... don't leave. I—I really can't live without you!"

Donald and Monica clutched their chests.

I kicked Adrian off without a shred of sympathy. "Instead of begging me, maybe get your parents checked out. Don't let your trainwreck of a life be what kills them."

Their faces went ghost-white. I didn't care.

I grabbed the vitamins meant for his parents, scooped up the trash bag by the door, and dumped it all on my way out.

Right as I hit the gate, my phone rang—Betty.

"Papers are ready. Swing by when you can. Not to pry, but... I don't get it. You two looked solid for years. Why now?"

I rubbed my temples. "It's nothing. Living with that family? It's exhausting. I'm done."

She sighed. Didn't push.

I went straight to her office, grabbed the divorce papers, and signed without blinking.

***

By evening, I went home and quietly packed up everything from my years in that house. Plan was simple: hand him the papers and bounce the second he walked in.

But I waited. And waited.

By nine? Still no sign of him.

Annoyed, I grabbed my phone to call and end it already—when one of his coworkers called me first.

Panicked voice. "Raelyn, it's Adrian. He was out of it all day, super pale. Collapsed outside the office. Doctor said it was stress—something triggered his heart. He's at the hospital. Please come. Now."

I drove straight there.

The second I stepped into the hospital room, I walked right into a crowd—Donald, Monica, Sarah, a bunch of Adrian's coworkers I barely knew.

And my parents.

Their eyes snapped to me like I'd set the place on fire.

I opened my mouth, but before a word came out—crack—my dad slapped me so hard I hit the door behind me.

Ears ringing.

Adrian tried to sit up, panic all over his face. "Michael, please... talk if you have to, but don't hit her."

My dad's eyes went red. "Look at him—hospitalized because of you, and he's still worried about you.

"You ungrateful girl. He's done nothing but treat you right, and you're throwing a fit over what? Money? You that desperate? Who ever let you go without?

"You think being cared for means you get to act like this?"

Even my mom, usually the quiet support, looked at me like I'd kicked a puppy. "I hate saying this, but... this time, you really crossed a line."

Dad scoffed. "What are you waiting for? Apologize. You nearly put the whole family in the ER yesterday."

I swallowed hard, met every furious stare head-on. "This is my decision. None of you get a say. Stay out of it."

Then I grabbed the doctor's pen, pulled out the signed divorce papers, and handed them to Adrian.

"I didn't come here for drama. I came to end this."

The room went dead silent. His coworkers, clearly betting my parents would break me, just gawked. Shocked.