Chapter 2 - The Return of the Servant**
The smell hit my nostrils before my hand even fully pushed open the front door—a rancid cocktail of rotting takeout containers, unwashed dishes piled high in the sink, and garbage bags leaning drunkenly against the hallway wall. Apparently, forty-eight hours without their unpaid housekeeper had been enough for the entire suburban fortress to collapse into squalor.
As I stepped across the threshold, bracing my weight against the wall to keep from fainting, Agnes stormed out of the kitchen with her face twisted into a mask of furious indignation. Her cold eyes swept over my pale, sweat-soaked face before dropping straight down to the thick white surgical dressing swelling visibly beneath my knitted sweater. She didn't ask how I was feeling. She didn't ask why I looked like a corpse.
"Where the hell have you been?!" Agnes demanded, slapping her hands onto her hips. "We've been starving for two days! Do you have any idea what it’s like living like animals because you decided to take a little vacation?"
I stared at her, feeling a strange, numb detachment washing over my nervous system.
"We've had to order takeout three times," Chloe chimed in from the living room sofa, her mouth full of cold pizza as she scrolled lazily through social media. "Seriously, stop faking everything for attention. You're exhausting."
The audacity was so breathtakingly profound that it choked out any remaining fear. I looked at the mess surrounding them, then straight into Agnes’s calculating eyes.
"I had emergency surgery," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, yet carrying a chilling edge. "I almost died."
Agnes crossed her arms tightly over her chest, sneering. "And yet here you are, standing in my hallway complaining. Get in that kitchen and make lunch right now."
"I'm going upstairs to pack my things," I replied evenly, turning toward the staircase. "You can clean your own house."
Agnes froze, her face flushing a mottled, furious red. "Pack? Pack what?!"
"My clothes, my documents, and my personal belongings. After that, you can explain everything else to Leo."
Chloe sat upright so fast her pizza slice nearly slid onto the carpet. "Oh, please! Get over yourself. Leo isn't going to choose you over his own family. You're nothing without us!"
As I reached out to grab the wooden stair rail for support, another wave of agonizing dizziness tore through my core, causing my knees to buckle slightly. Agnes saw me stumble. Instead of showing an ounce of human empathy, a triumphant, malicious smile twisted her lips. She realized I was physically weak, and she thought she had the upper hand.
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Without warning, she spun around toward the kitchen island, her hand closing tightly around the heavy cast-iron skillet I had used to cook their breakfasts every single morning for years.
"You don't walk into my house and threaten this family!" Agnes screeched.
