Chapter 4

Insulting Sophie wasn’t enough for Laura.

She stormed over, raising a clothes hanger in her hand, ready to strike.

In that moment, any respect I might have held for her as an elder completely evaporated.

My courtesy was reserved for humans, not for someone like Laura, who was no better than an animal.

I grabbed the hanger from her hand and, without hesitation, delivered a hard kick to her stomach. "Apologize to Sophie!" I demanded.

Laura's eyes widened in shock as she stumbled back and fell to the ground. "You ungrateful brat! How dare you treat me like this? I’m your mother-in-law!"

I spat at the floor near her. "Mother-in-law? You don’t deserve that title!"

Looking at Sophie, her face still bearing the red mark from Laura’s earlier slap, my fury intensified. I turned back to Laura, delivering a slap across her face that mirrored the one she’d given my daughter.

"If you don’t apologize, I’ll keep slapping you until you do!"

Laura clutched her face, screaming, "You lunatic! You think I’ll apologize to that shameless little brat? Never—Ah!"

I didn’t stop. Five or six more slaps landed squarely on her face until she finally broke, cowering on the floor, gasping for breath. When she saw I was preparing to strike again, she relented.

"Fine! I’m sorry… I’m sorry," she mumbled, barely audible.

That evening, Henry returned from his business trip.

Still seething, I confronted him the moment he walked through the door. I recounted everything that had happened over the past few days, my voice trembling with anger.

But he barely glanced at me, his fingers continuing to tap away at his laptop keyboard.

Furious, I slammed the screen shut. "Are you deaf? Your daughter was nearly assaulted by some sleazy old man, and you’re just sitting there like nothing happened?"

Henry rubbed his ears, his tone calm and dismissive. "Nothing actually happened, right? Why are you so worked up?"

I couldn’t believe my ears. Grabbing him by the collar, I raised my voice. "Henry Reilly, are you out of your mind? If anything had happened, I’d have dragged Laura and her filthy lover to court!"

"Alright, alright," he said, standing up and shrugging off my grip as he reached for the clothes he had set aside for his shower. "Calm down. And watch your tone—that’s my mother you’re talking about."

I glared at him, my anger bubbling over. I had no intention of calming down.

Then, as if the past few days hadn’t been bad enough, he casually added, "Oh, by the way, I’ve already agreed to let Vic move in."

For a moment, I was speechless. Then, the rage came crashing back, stronger than ever.