The Woman I Saved Destroyed Me

ut of the bedroom, pulling on a shirt. He didn'

"Make yourself useful. Go downstairs and get us s

. It skittered across the polished hardwood and s

my gut. He was treating me l

and throw it in his smug face. But another, colder part took over. This was an op

ked up the card,

ady turning his back on me. "W

wood of the banister. I remembered sketching this staircase, imagining Olivia des

f champagne, a vintage I had been saving for a special occasion.

inside. I placed the champagne bucket on a small table outside the door, like a hotel

than. Always talking about 'legac

rd. I turned and walked out of that house, leavi

r Olivia, the bond I'd shared with Mark-it was all gone, burned away by their treachery. It was like

n. It was dark and derelict. The lawn was overgrown, the windows boarded up. Mark and Olivia had

nt moonlight filtering through the grime, I saw that the place had been ransacked. Fur

's knitti

onto the dusty floor, the needles still stuck in the yarn. She ha

my mind, her gentle smile, the warmth in her eyes. And I knew Olivia and Mark hadn't ju

of that ruined house, clutching a half-finished scarf, and I we

, there was nothing left insid

mother lie in an unmarked, temporary grave.

out of the city, back to our small hometown in the countryside. The

n cemetery. I saw a lone figure standing by a fresh plot

as C

pirited energy was gone, replaced by a deep, wear

and turned, her eyes immediately hostile. She didn't recognize th

n. "If you're from Mark, you can tell him I'm not leaving. T

om Mark," I

tep back. "You're one of them, aren't you? O

me, of her seeing me as th

I didn't know what to

nce. The dam of her grie

company. They seized all the accounts. They sold Dad's stock portfolio. When Mom got sick, they refused to pay for her care. They said it was 'too expensive.' The

cked, a raw s

hen she handed me an eviction notice for Mom's house. She said it was company property

l, struck me with the force of a physical blow.

storm was too much for her exhausted body. Her eyes r

o her side, my heart poundin