I sighed, already knowing the storm I was about to walk into. “Don’t worry about him.”
***
Her face was no longer tired and shadowed by exhaustion. I smiled as I handed her a pile of clothes from my closet.
“They might be a little big, but at least they’re clean.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know.”
“I want to.”
She nodded, then looked at me carefully.
“How long has it been since someone did something kind for you?”
The question caught me off guard. I didn’t have an answer. Alice chuckled, shaking her head.
“That long, huh?”
After she had changed, we sat at the kitchen table with mugs of tea, and the house was unusually quiet. It was strange—having company.
It was the first time in years that I didn’t feel lonely, even in my own home. Moreover, I felt like I had done something right.
Hours later, the front door slammed. Carter was home.
His presence filled the space before he even spoke. When Carter saw Alice, he froze.
“What the hell?” His eyes darted from me to her. “Who is this?”
Alice lifted her gaze slowly, and in that second, something in Carter’s face changed. His usual arrogant stance faltered.
“Mom?!”
Carter’s shock barely lasted a second before his face twisted in fury. His disbelief turned to anger.
“This woman is a homeless stranger,” he spat, pointing at Alice like she was filth. “She is not staying here!”
Alice folded her arms, watching him carefully. “So that’s how you introduce me now?”
“You’re not my mother,” Carter snapped. “You stopped being my mother the day you chose to leave.”
Alice let out a small, humorless laugh.
“Oh, Carter. Is that how you tell the story? That I left? Maybe because you threw me out?”
“You abandoned me! You were selfish, putting your dreams ahead of me.”
“That’s the real problem, isn’t it?”
A tense silence settled over the room, but she wasn’t done.
“I wanted a career. I wanted my own money. I wanted to be more than just a wife to a man who expected me to serve him. And you hated that. Your father hated that. You both wanted a woman who’d bow her head and do as she was told.”
“Dad died. And you! You were a disgrace. You refused to act like a proper mother.”
“No. I refused to raise a son who thought he could own a woman.”
He turned to me next.
“Evelyn, what the hell were you thinking? Bringing her into my house?”
“Our house,” I corrected, my voice sharp as glass.
He laughed coldly.
“Yours? No, sweetheart. After we got married, this house became mine. I pay the bills. I make the rules. Get out. Both of you.”
Carter was losing control, and he knew it.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the house key. Then, without a word, I tossed it onto the floor in front of Carter.
“The house is yours. But you have no family anymore.”
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel fear. I felt nothing at all.
Without waiting for him to react, I turned, grabbed my coat, and stuffed some cash into my pocket. We stepped onto the empty sidewalk, the cold air biting my skin. I had no plan, no home, no idea where I was supposed to go next.
“Where now?” I asked.
Alice gave me a knowing look and motioned for me to follow her around the corner.
I hesitated, but what else could I do?
Under the dim glow of a flickering streetlight, a sleek black Mercedes was parked against the curb. Alice reached into her coat pocket and pressed a button, and the car’s lights blinked in response.
I froze. My mind scrambled to process the scene in front of me.
“Alice… You… stole a car?”
She let out a rich, amused chuckle.
“Oh, honey. I just needed you to trust me.”
“I need a little more information before I hop into a possibly stolen vehicle.”
Alice smirked and opened the driver’s side door. “It’s mine.”
“Yours?”
“Yes. Registered, insured, and parked legally, if that helps you breathe easier. Now, are you coming, or would you prefer to sleep on a bus bench tonight?”
Alice didn’t say a word until we were on the road, the engine’s hum filling the silence.
The city lights blurred past, casting shifting shadows across the dashboard. I stared out the window, waiting. Finally, I turned to her.
“You said… you were homeless.”
“I was. For a while. But I pulled myself together.”
“How? Minutes ago, you had nothing. And now, you’re driving a Mercedes?”
“I pretended to be homeless. I used to be. But I have my own company now. I own my life again.”
“What?”
Alice turned onto a quiet street, and the houses there were larger and grander. She pulled up to a beautiful one with tall windows.
“Alice… whose house is this?”
She killed the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt.
“Mine.”
I turned to her in disbelief.
“Why did you do all this? Why go through this elaborate test instead of just helping me?”
“Because I saw the future of my grandchild. I noticed you were pregnant the moment I saw you. And I had to know. If you were truly kind, you’d help a homeless woman. If my son were still a monster, he’d reveal his true nature.”
“And now what?” I whispered.
“Now, that doesn’t matter. I’ll help you.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I was finally free and safe.
***
Weeks passed. I was still adjusting to my new reality: waking up in a bed that didn’t feel like a cage, drinking coffee without the weight of someone’s disapproval pressing down on me.
Then, one afternoon, the doorbell rang. Alice and I exchanged glances. We both knew who it was before I even reached for the handle.
Carter. He looked awful.
“I was wrong,” he admitted, shifting uncomfortably. “I… I see that now. I want to make things right.”
“Make things right?” Alice repeated, unimpressed.
Carter looked down in shame.
“I know I messed up. I know I hurt you both. But I don’t want to be this person anymore.”
I studied him. I wasn’t the old me anymore.
“You want to fix things? Start by going to therapy. And maybe… actually help the homeless instead of throwing them out.”
“I’ll do it. For our baby.”
Maybe he would change. Maybe he wouldn’t. But either way, my future was finally mine.
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