Chapter 3

"Enough. Stop hiding behind our kid!" Lindsay cut me off impatiently. "I'm telling you right now. That $140,000? You're giving it to him whether you like it or not! If you still see me as your wife, and my mom and my brother as your family, then you'll go out there right now and, in front of all of them, transfer the money to my brother!"

There wasn't a shred of room for discussion in her eyes. Only a cold threat.

Lindsay had locked the bedroom door from the inside. She'd made it clear that nobody was walking out of this room until the problem was solved.

Voices drifted in from outside in bits and pieces. My mother-in-law's loud voice came through clearest of all: "That girl, why can't they just talk things out nicely instead of shutting themselves in like that... Tyler, honey, don't you worry. Your sister can definitely handle your brother-in-law. That man's a little stubborn, sure, but he's a pushover. He listens to your sister."

Listening to all that, I felt a wave of nausea.

"Ethan, what exactly do you want? Just give me a straight answer!" Seeing me stay silent, Lindsay grew even more impatient. She paced back and forth in front of me like a caged lioness. "You think you're a big shot now? One year in the African Division and suddenly you look down on us Brookses?"

"I don't look down on anyone." I leaned back against the wall, feeling as if every ounce of strength had been drained out of me. "I just can't understand why your family can take and take with such a clear conscience, while you, my wife, think it's perfectly natural."

"Take? Don't make it sound so ugly!" Lindsay stopped pacing and jabbed a finger at my face. "This is family! This is helping each other out! Let me ask you something. When we bought this house and came up $30,000 short on the down payment, wasn't it my mom who put up the money?"

My temper flared instantly.

"Yes, your mom put up $30,000. But the down payment on this house was $1.2 million total. I paid $900,000, and my parents emptied their retirement savings to scrape together $270,000. And your mom's $30,000? I had you pay her back the very next month. Did you forget?"

"So what if we paid it back?" Lindsay's logic was practically bulletproof. "Paying it back doesn't change the fact that she helped us! Now your brother-in-law's in a tough spot, and what's wrong with you helping him out? You can't forget who was there for you! Ethan, I'm realizing you've gotten more and more cold-blooded."

"I'm cold-blooded?" I was so angry I laughed. "Lindsay, put your hand on your heart and tell me honestly. In these five years of marriage, how have I treated you and your family? Every time your brother got himself into trouble, wasn't I the one who followed behind and cleaned up his mess? Every time your mom got sick and went into the hospital, wasn't I the one running around taking care of her? The money you send your family every month, have I ever said a single word against it?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" Lindsay looked at me in disbelief. "You married me, so my family is your family. Taking care of my mom, looking out for my brother, isn't that how it should be? How can you treat all that like some kind of favor and tally it up item by item? Ethan, I'm so disappointed in you!"

I was completely speechless. I realized we weren't even on the same wavelength, and any attempt to reason with her was pointless. In her mind, everything I did for her family was simply "what I should do," while every tiny bit her family ever "gave" me became a debt of gratitude they could collect on forever.

Just then, my phone rang.

It was my mother.

I took a deep breath and answered, trying to make my voice sound normal. "Hi, Mom."

"Ethan, honey, I'm not bothering you, am I?" My mom sounded hesitant.

"No, Mom. Go ahead."

"It's just... your dad keeps saying his chest feels tight lately. I want to take him to the county hospital for a full checkup, get one of those heart ultrasounds or something. But you know how your dad is, stubborn as a mule, always saying it's a waste of money. So I thought I'd let you know, and if you've got a little to spare, then..."

Before my mom could finish, Lindsay, who'd been listening beside me, exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

She snatched the phone right out of my hand and yelled into it, "Mom! What do you want? Ethan just got back from the African Division and he's completely worn out. Can't you people give him a break? A checkup? Can't that wait for some other day? Why does it have to be right now? We've got a ton going on here, and we don't have the money!"

With that, she jabbed the button and hung up.

I stood frozen in place, as if all the blood in my body had turned to ice in an instant.

I stared at her, and my eyes were probably blazing with fury.

"Lindsay, what the hell are you doing?!" I practically forced the words out through clenched teeth.

"What am I doing? I'm helping you!" Lindsay shot back, completely self-righteous. "Didn't you hear? Your mom's asking for money again! Over here my brother needs $140,000 for a car and it's urgent, and over there your mom wants to spend money on a checkup! Do you think your money grows on trees? It's fine to spend it on your mom, but not on my brother? Ethan, do you think us Brookses are easy to push around?"

In that moment, something inside me that had been stretched tight for so long finally snapped.

I looked at the hysterical woman in front of me and suddenly felt that these five years had been nothing but an absurd dream. All my sacrifices, all my patience, had earned me not understanding or respect, but more and more exploitation and humiliation.

I really couldn't live like this anymore.

I didn't argue with her any further. Instead, I turned around, unlocked the door she'd bolted, and walked out.

In the living room, my mother-in-law and Tyler's family saw me come out, and smug smiles spread across all their faces. They thought Lindsay had already "handled" me.

"So, what's the verdict, man? Come around yet?" Tyler asked eagerly.

I ignored him, walked straight to the couch, and picked up my jacket and car keys.

"Ethan, where are you going?" Lindsay chased after me and grabbed my arm.

I shook off her hand, looked at the greedy, ugly faces of this whole family, and said, word by word, "I'm going to the bank. To get the money."