Chapter 1
The moment before we board the plane to our dream vacation, my husband suddenly got an emergency call.
“Honey, I’m so sorry-my mom’s not feeling well. I need to go back and check on her. I can’t come with you this time.”
I was disappointed, but his mother’s health came first, so I agreed.
Yet, the moment he left, I directly tore up my boarding pass.
Huh. Time to go see what was wrong with my mother-in-law. After all, she had been dead for three months.
I tailed him all the way back to our house.
But before got out of the car, I pulled out my phone and started scrolling through INS.
That’s when I saw it-Priya’s Instagram story.
Priya, our housekeeper’s twenty-one-year-old daughter.
[Your love is the best 21st birthday gift a girl could ask for!]
The photo showed her in a flowing white sundress, nestled in some guy’s arms like she belonged there.
And that guy? My supposedly ‘filial’ husband, Leonard.
I cracked my knuckles and headed inside. The moment I stepped through the front door. I was hit with the scene: our spacious living room packed with at least a dozen people, balloons everywhere, the whole nine yards
The crowd was getting rowdy, chanting in unison.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”
“Come on, do it already!”
“Kiss her, Leonard!”
After who knows how many rings, Leonard wrapped his arm around Priya’s waist and pulled her into a steamy French kiss.
The crowd went absolutely wild.
When they finally came up for air, Leonard was still all over her, thumb brushing her bottom lip like they were in some cheesy romance movie. That’s when he looked up and spotted me-somehow I’d managed to push my way to the very front of the crowd.
His eyes went huge with shock and he instinctively shoved Priya away from him
Before he could react -SMACK SMACK-my two hard slaps across his face before he could even blink
The sudden violence made everyone else shut up real quick.
Priya whipped around, saw me standing there, and let out this blood-curdling scream. She grabbed onto Leonard’s arm and tried to hide behind him like some scared little kid.
I gave him this sweet, fake smile that definitely didn’t reach my eyes.
Turury, I don’t remember you getting a new mom. When did that happen exactly?”
Leonard’s eyes were darting around like a cornered animal mouth opening and closing as he scrambled for summe excuse. That’s when this pie cut
brunette shoved me hard.
“Who the hell are you? You can’t just barge into someone’s house and start hitting people! Are you insane? Apologize to Priya’s boyfriend right now!”
And just like that, the whole crowd turned into a pack of wolves.
“Who the hell does she think she is, just throwing hands like that? This is insane! Screw an apology-we need to call the damn cops!”
“Hell yeah! The police should dig into this bitch’s criminal record. If she’s beating people up now, what kind of crazy shit will she pull next?”
“How the fuck did this psychopath even get into this birthday party? And she has the balls to assault someone? Do you have any idea who you just fucked with?”I flashed them all this sickeningly sweet smile, then turned back to Leonard.
“So… you think I was wrong to slap you too?”
Leonard licked his lips, about to say something, when Priya tugged on his sleeve and gave him this little head shake.
I caught every little move they made, and honestly? I was dying to see what kind of shit they were gonna pull.
Leonard’s face twisted with this fake outrage as he glared at me.
“Maya, what the hell is wrong with you now? It’s Priya’s birthday, for crying out loud. Whatever your problem is, we’ll deal with it later. Stop making a scene and ruining her special day.”
“Get out. Now.”
