I hesitated at the door, holding only the phone Walter had given me and a small Walmart bag I had kept in the hotel room. I had left everything else behind. I did not want to bring any of that back with me. I needed to face whatever was waiting here, and I did not want Walter or Dr. Macy's words getting in my head again.
I typed in the code, expecting the familiar soft click, but nothing happened. I tried again, pressing each button slowly this time, but the lock still would not open. A cold rush of fear crawled through me as I realized it would not unlock at all. My hand trembled as I reached for the doorbell instead. The sound echoed through the hallway for several long seconds, and I stood there in the dim porch light, hoping someone would answer.
When the door finally opened, a woman I did not recognize stood there. She wore simple clothes and had her hair tied back. She was short and slightly heavyset, maybe in her late thirties or early forties. She looked at me with polite confusion.
"Hello, who are you looking for?" she asked.
"I live here," I blurted out. The words sounded foolish even to me.
She stared at me, surprised, and before she could question it I rushed to speak again. "Who are you, by the way?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
"I'm the new maid. I started working a few days ago, and I've never seen you before."
"That's because I was away," I said quietly. "I'm Adrian's wife. Star Vale."
"Oh," she said, and that was all. She gave me a look I could not read before stepping aside to let me in.
"Mrs. Miranda told me a few things about you," she added as I walked past her.
My stomach tightened. I forced my voice to stay calm. "Did they change the code?"
"Yes," she replied, sounding almost dismissive. "For security reasons."
She headed back toward the kitchen, moving comfortably through a space that had always been mine. The sight of someone else working in it made the house feel unfamiliar, almost like I was stepping into someone else's life.
I heard footsteps behind me a moment later, followed by a voice I knew too well.
"Marie made extra food tonight. We have a guest—"
Then Mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs, and her voice cut sharply through the room. "Oh, look who we have here."
I turned to face her. "Mother," was all I could manage.
"I thought you weren't coming back after the stunt you pulled the last time," she said, her tone dripping with judgment. "You thought we would starve without you, right, Star? But what did I tell you? Everyone is replaceable. Marie does your job, and she does it better than you."
"Oh," I whispered, lowering my eyes as my fingers tightened around the handle of the Walmart bag.
"Just so you know," she continued, "Marie works for us. She is not cooking dinner for you. You cook your own meals, and you clean your own spaces."
I stood there trying to understand her words. I had asked Adrian so many times for help around the house. He always said we could not afford anyone, that hiring someone would put us in debt. I had believed him every single time.
I was only gone for a week, and somehow there was a maid now, and somehow my unappreciated work had become something they no longer needed.
The realization stung in a way I could not name. Had I really been that easy to replace? Even when I had tried so hard for all of them?
Maybe this was punishment for hitting Lena. Maybe if I explained what really happened, Mother would listen. Maybe she would understand. Maybe she would finally be on my side.
"Since you are back," she continued, "you should clear the things from the guest room. I was about to tell Marie to throw everything out, but you can make yourself useful."
"Guest room? Trash?" I repeated quietly, not understanding.
"The one next to your room," she said. "That is Marie's new room, and she could barely get her stuff in there because of the state you left the place in."
I felt my heart stop for a moment. My skin prickled. There was no guest room beside my room.
"My nursery," I whispered.
Mother exhaled as if she was tired of explaining something simple. "Whatever you want to call it, you need to clear the stuff out. We moved everything to storage, but now there is no space to store other important things."
Something inside me twisted sharply. It was the same feeling I had felt when Lena smirked at me after I slapped her. The same feeling I felt when I saw them together in that apartment. The same feeling I felt when Vivi threw my bracelet.
"That room is for the baby. Your grandchild," I said. The words came out heavy, like stones scraping out of my throat.
For a second, she hesitated, and I saw something flicker across her face before her expression hardened again.
"Why would a baby need an entire room?" she said. "She can stay in your room. Do you not sleep there by yourself anyway?"
"Besides," she began, and her voice shifted into that cold, familiar tone I was used to. "After the hospital called, I assumed it was just like last time."
"You what?" I asked, feeling the air leave my chest. "You thought my baby died, and you did not even call me?"
The words were harsh and bitter, sharper than anything I had ever said to her in my life.
Mother's eyes narrowed. "Watch your tone with me, Star."
I did not stay to listen. Something hot and painful surged through me, and I rushed past her, moving toward the hallway. My steps echoed down the wooden floor as I ran to my bedroom and then to the nursery I had worked so hard to build.
I had saved for months for that room. Piece by piece. A few decorations. A stuffed toy. A blanket I had crocheted slowly in the evenings. I thought Adrian and I would eventually get a contractor to paint the walls and add little white baseboards after the baby shower. I thought there would be tiny clothes folded in drawers. I thought it would be the first room I ever made with love.
When I pushed the door open, none of it was there.
The crib was gone. The toys were gone. The little decorations I had picked were gone. The blanket was gone.
Instead, a new bed stood in the center, already made with unfamiliar sheets. And scattered around the room were Marie's things, her clothes, her bags, a suitcase open on the floor like this room had always belonged to her.
My throat tightened instantly. The tears stung so fast they blurred my vision. This was supposed to be my baby's first home. This was supposed to be ours. And now it was nothing. Now it was someone else's space. Now it was like we had never existed at all.
Vivi's voice stung my ears from behind me. "Look who the cat dragged in."
"Vivi, please, not now," I said quietly.
"What! Are you trying to intimidate me? Hit me like you did to Lena?"
I turned to look at her, my eyes still wet and burning. She stood in the doorway with her shiny outfit and perfect hair, her shoes spotless, her nails done. She looked better than me in every way, and she was only sixteen.
At sixteen I wore long pinafores that Sister Margaret checked with a ruler every morning. I always admired girls like Vivi. I thought when I grew older I would dress like that too, that I would be sophisticated and put together.
But even when Vivi and Miranda dressed in their expensive clothes, it had never bothered me before. I had never wondered why I could not dress like that too. All I cared about was my baby. At least my baby would have every beautiful thing I could give her. I would dress her in the best outfits. She would have all the toys she needed. I knew I would make sure she never lacked anything.
"If you cared so much about the room, then you should not have done what you did," Vivi said, her voice sharp and careless.
My eyes drifted to her wrist. A shiny bracelet caught the light, paired with a matching ring. She noticed where I was looking and smirked proudly.
"You bullied me because I wore your thing, and look here. Lena and I went shopping with Adrian's card and we got this. It is better, and I am sure it is more expensive than your trashy thing."
The bracelet sparkled on her wrist, new and bold, catching the hallway light like it wanted to be seen. But she was not the only one flaunting something new. Even Mother had been wearing new jewelry downstairs earlier. I noticed the shine on her wrist, the matching ring, the way she moved her hands as if the glitter belonged there.
I could not even buy a car seat. I had scraped and saved for my baby's nursery. I had counted every dollar, every coupon, every little piece of hope. And I could not even buy the car seat. Yet somehow they always had money for themselves. They always got what they wanted.
"By the way, Lena is coming for dinner," Vivi said. "So stay in your room because if you as much as touch her, I am going to hit you, Star."
She tossed her hair and walked out, humming as if she had said nothing cruel at all.
Lena also wore expensive things. She always bragged about her rich boyfriend buying her gifts. Was her rich boyfriend Adrian all along? Who said we were struggling?
I turned back to look at the nursery again. The empty bed, the scattered luggage, the missing pieces of my baby's world made something inside me crumble. This room had once felt warm and hopeful, a space I had imagined filling with soft blankets and tiny clothes and little dreams only a mother could understand. Now it felt cold, stripped, careless. It felt like a reminder that nothing I loved here belonged to me anymore.
The tears welled up again, hot and helpless, and before I knew it I was reaching for my phone with shaking fingers. My hands trembled so badly I almost dropped it.
I dialed Walter.
He picked up quickly. "Star?"
"I'm sorry to disturb you so late at night," I said, trying to steady my voice, "but I really need a favour."
"Whatever you want, Star. Just tell me."
I swallowed hard, staring at the stripped-down nursery again, at the life I thought I was building here. "About that thing you said… could you look into my assets and the company again? I thought about it, and I do want to know about the finances."