Chapter 4 - The Plate
Beatrice rose from the dining table.
“Whatever arrangement you made years ago doesn’t matter now. Ethan is her husband.”
Grace looked toward Maya.
“Did you know the deed is only in your name?”
Maya shook her head slowly.
“Ethan said it was changed.”
Grace turned toward him.
“Show me the document.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
“No. You have to prove it to her.”
Beatrice moved toward the kitchen with the plate still in her hand.
“Your daughter has become lazy and disrespectful. Someone had to teach her how a household works.”
Maya instinctively extended both hands to accept the dirty plate.
Grace stepped between them.
“No.”
The single word stopped Maya.
Beatrice frowned.
“This is between a husband and wife.”
“You’re holding a plate toward my exhausted daughter while eating food she cooked in a house she owns.”
Ethan slammed his palm against the table.
“She broke the last one because she’s careless.”
Maya flinched.
Grace saw it.
Not fear of the noise itself.
Anticipation.
The body remembering what usually followed anger.
Grace lowered her voice.
“Maya, go put on dry clothes.”
Ethan moved toward the hallway.
“She stays.”
Sarah Morgan, Grace’s attorney and longtime friend, stepped through the side doorway behind her.
“No,” Sarah said calmly. “She does not.”
Grace had called her from the driveway after seeing Maya through the kitchen window.
May you like
Sarah carried certified property records and a small folder of documents.
Ethan’s face changed again.
