I Bought a Country House So My Daughter Could Finally Have Peace — Then I Showed Up Unannounced and Found Her Scrubbing Floors While Her In-Laws Treated Her Like a Servant.

A woman stepped into view, impeccably dressed, arms folded, eyes calculating in a way I recognized immediately. Susan. Mark’s mother. Behind her, as if on cue, I noticed Mark’s father stretched across the couch, his brother absorbed in his phone, and two teenage relatives laughing at something on the television, entirely unconcerned with the woman scrubbing the floor beneath them.

I asked, keeping my voice even, “Why is everyone here?”

Susan smiled without warmth. “Family helps family. Mark invited us. This house has plenty of space.”

Rachel whispered, barely audible, “Mom, it’s okay…”

Susan snapped her head toward her. “A daughter-in-law contributes. We’re guests. She should be grateful.”

I looked around the room, at the stacked suitcases, the overflowing sink, the quiet way my daughter had shrunk into herself, and I understood with brutal clarity that Rachel didn’t live here anymore.

She served here.

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