Chapter 2
The next morning…
I heard about the dinner from Lyle–he blurted it out while stuffing potato chips in his mouth.
“Elizabeth rented the whole top floor of the Luciana Hotel! Fancy, huh? Dad says she booked it just for us. Big celebration.”
I paused mid–mop. “Us?”
Nash answered, “You’re not coming, Ma. Grandpa said you’re… not up for it. I mean, look at you.”
Not up for it… Like I was sick. Or senile. Or something to be pitied.
By sunset, the house was empty. Edmund had shaved. Wore the cologne he only touched for business deals and funerals. He stood tall in his navy suit, fixing Lyle’s and Nash collar like a proud grandfather, and Lester wore his best suit.
“Remember,” Edmund said to them, “Elizabeth’s doing this because she loves us. She’s family.”
“We know, grandpa. That’s why we love Elizabeth more than Grandma Doris.” they answered in
unison.
And then, nothing. No goodbye. No–we’ll bring you something. Just the sound of the front door closing like a coffin lid.
The quiet afterward was insulting. A hollow that screamed louder than any slap.
I stood in the middle of the hallway, in my house slippers, holding a basket of unfolded laundry. My stomach growled. I hadn’t cooked. What for?
Out of spite, I turned on the TV. They were on the news.
A live segment from the Luciana Hotel.
Cameras panned across crystal chandeliers and violin quartets. There they were–Elizabeth in her fur shawl. Edmund beside her. My son and his wife smiling like politicians. Lyle and Nash sipping soda in a tiny tuxedo.
The reporter called it: “A private Morroco gathering–Elizabeth’s homecoming. The family behind one of the largest shipping fortunes in the country.”
I was not in the shot. Not in the credits.
Not even in the whispers.
They toasted champagne. I sipped stale coffee.
They laughed under golden light. I wiped a smudge off the glass door.
And just when I thought it couldn’t cut deeper, the camera caught a brief, brutal moment:
Elizabeth leaned toward Edmund, whispered something, and they both laughed.
My son chuckled too. I didn’t know what she said. But I knew it was about me.
felt it in my teeth.
***
Hours later, just after midnight, the door opened again. I turned. Hoped, stupidly, it might be my son. But no–it was them.
Chapter 2
2/3 6.2
5:14 am D D
Elizabeth’s heels clicked confidently across the marble as she half–carried Edmund, drunk and swaying, into the house. His tie hung loose, lips pink from too much wine. Eyes bleary, glazed.
“Oh, Doris,” Elizabeth said with a smirk, spotting me standing by the staircase like a ghost. “Didn’t think you’d be awake.”
She steered Edmund toward the hall, her arm looped through his like a bride on her wedding day. “Lester and the twins are staying at my penthouse. Too tired to come back. But Edmund… well, he can’t sleep in strange beds. Poor thing.”
A lie.
I knew it.
She came here only to shove the truth down my throat.
“I told him not to worry,” she continued sweetly. “I’d bring him home. Take care of him. It’s what family does, right?”
Then she reached into her tote and tossed a plastic container at my feet. It bounced once, landed near the rug.
“Leftovers,” she said. “Go eat, sister–in–law. You look like a sickly little stick. You should really take better care of yourself. Bet you weight like 30kls.”
I didn’t move.
My fingers curled into fists at my side.
“I’ll put Edmund to bed,” she added with a sly smile. “I know you two don’t share a room anymore. He told me. Said your side of the bed always smells like disappointment.”
I took one step forward. Just one. My palm twitched. Slapping her would’ve felt good. Almost holy. But what for?
My heart was already cracking in my chest like ice under boots. And the real punishment was in what I saw next-
Edmund, drunk and limp, smiled at her like she’d hung the moon. “Elizabeth’s so pretty,” he mumbled. “Smells like peaches. Mmm. Doris smells like dishwater and arguments.”
They climbed the stairs together. I stayed behind. Frozen. Shaking. She laughed once more before they disappeared down the hall.
And I realized-
They didn’t kill me.
They just replaced me.
I waited.
Not because I cared. Not because I hoped. But because I needed to know.
The clock ticked past one. Then two. Still no sign of her. The upstairs lights stayed on. No footsteps on the stairs. No sound of a door closing. Only muffled laughter. Then silence.
I sat on the edge of the couch in my robe, untouched coffee cooling on the table. The house smelled of lemon cleaner and betrayal.
Maybe she fell asleep in the guest room. Maybe she just-
Chapter 2
5:14 am DDDD A thump.
Then another.
Not heavy. Rhythmic. Too… intimate.
My blood chilled.
I rose,
like something pulled me forward by the throat. I climbed the stairs, slow as a prayer. The hallway stretched like a graveyard path. The door to our bedroom–his bedroom now–was
cracked open.
And I saw.
Elizabeth, naked, straddling Edmund. Her red nails dug into his chest like claws. Her head tilted back in a mess of curls. And Edmund–my husband, my life partner of 30 years–grunting
beneath her like an animal.
My legs stopped working. My mouth went dry.
She moaned loud, shameless, her voice like a blade across my spine.
“Ohh… Brother–in–law–don’t stop. Fill me. Ruin me like she never let you.”
Edmund groaned, “You’re perfect. Not like her. You’re everything, Lizzy-”
I ran.
I didn’t cry. I ran. Straight to the downstairs bathroom and vomited until my ribs cramped.
The sound of them still echoed in my ears, louder than sirens.
“Harder–make me forget she ever existed!”
“You were always the one, Lizzy. Always.”
He was fifty. She was forty–five.
And still, they had no shame. Not even a sliver of decency. They weren’t just in–laws. They weren’t even just lovers. They were conspirators. Twisting the knife slowly–together.
I stayed on the cold tile floor, knees pressed to my chest, my body shaking in waves I couldn‘ stop. It wasn’t about the sex. It was about being erased.
Replaced.
They didn’t just want to humiliate me. They wanted to watch me rot in the house I built. But a woman who survives this?
She doesn’t stay on the bathroom floor. She remembers. She plans. She learns how to haunt quietly.
Chapter 2
