“She has nowhere to go.”

“She has Rachel.”

“Rachel has kids.”

“So do we.”

“She contributes.”

I almost smiled.

“To what?”

Ethan stopped.

I waited.

“Utilities?”

Nothing.

“Groceries?”

Nothing.

“Mortgage?”

Nothing.

“Childcare?”

Nothing.

“Cleaning?”

Diane suddenly spoke.

“I clean all the time.”

“You rearranged my pantry once.”

“I do plenty.”

“You watch television until noon.”

Her face turned red.

Ethan snapped.

“Enough.”

I looked at him.

“No.”

He blinked.

“No?”

“No.”

I stood.

“I have said enough for years.”

I pointed toward the hallway.

“Your mother took Emma’s coats.”

“That was a misunderstanding.”

“She used your credit card.”

“I gave it to her.”

“She hosted fourteen people here without asking me.”

“She thought you’d be fine with it.”

“She went through my desk last month.”

Ethan looked surprised.

“What?”

Diane immediately spoke.

“I was looking for stamps.”

“In a locked drawer?”

“I thought they might be there.”

I stared at her.

“She has no respect for privacy.”

Ethan looked irritated.

“Then buy another lock.”

Something inside me went completely quiet.

I realized we were not having a fight about food.

We were not even having a fight about Diane.

We were having a fight about whether I mattered.

And Ethan had already answered.

I walked toward the stairs.

“Where are you going?”

“To bed.”

“We are not finished.”

“I am.”

Diane scoffed.

“Typical.”

I stopped.

Then I turned around.

“One more thing.”

They both looked at me.

“Do not enter my office.”

Ethan frowned.

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

Diane rolled her eyes.

I continued.

“And do not touch the filing cabinet.”

Ethan stared at me.

“What is in there?”

“My private documents.”

“What private documents?”

“My documents.”

His expression changed again.

That same brief look.

I noticed it.

Then I walked upstairs.

PART 3

I did not sleep.

Emma climbed into bed with me around eleven.

She said Grandma had been yelling.

I told her everything was okay.

That was not true.

But she was four.

She did not need adult details.

Ethan slept downstairs.

I heard the television until after midnight.

Around one-thirty, the apartment finally became quiet.

I lay awake.

My mind replayed the evening.

The food.

The argument.

The deed.

Diane’s comments.

Ethan’s strange reaction when I mentioned my filing cabinet.

Something felt wrong.

At 1:57 a.m., I heard a soft click.

It came from downstairs.

Then another sound.

A drawer.

I sat up.

Emma was asleep beside me.

I slipped out of bed.

I walked into the hallway.

A thin line of light appeared beneath my office door.

My chest tightened.

I walked downstairs quietly.

The office door was almost closed.