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Footsteps hammered down the stairs. Reggie rounded the corner seconds later.
“You have no right to be here.” She yanked the sleeve of my jacket, but I pushed her off. “You ruined our lives. You quit the company, and now we’re poor.”
“Andyou’re suing us?” Tabby splayed her arms out, trying to stop me from crossing. “You should sue whoever cuts your hair first, you horrible witch. Is it even straight?”
For starters, I cut my own hair with one of those haircutting clips that promised a straight cut. I supposed I had a case against them, too.
I stepped around the giant gap between Tabby’s outstretched arm and the television. “You wanted me to be your maid.”
“It’s called paying off your debts.”
“Debts? I’m not the one dripping in Prada.” I tilted my head, eyeing her blouse. “Well, I suppose it’s Frada now.”
“Yes, debts.” Reggie tossed her hands up. “Daddy and Mommy footed the bill for your little trip to Korea. He practically bled out for you. You know how much money that school cost? We couldn’t even afford to keep my horses.”
“Nothing.”
“Huh?”
“It cost nothing, because I had a full scholarship.” I dipped into thedining room after finding the living room empty. “And the horses went to an equine therapy center becauseyounever fed them.”
“I had school.”
“So did I.” I spun, getting in Tabby’s face. “I only left for Korea because you spent every waking moment reminding me that I’m not part of this family.”
She and Reggie followed me into the kitchen. I surveyed the room, discovering mountains of cardboard boxes piled up in the pantry.
I swiveled to them. “You’re moving?”
“We can’t afford this house anymore, can we?” To prove her point, Reggie pushed past me and taped up a half-empty box with enough toxic energy to light up Vegas. “The HOA alone is eight hundred bucks a month.”
Tabby joined her, closing up boxes with barely anything in them. “We’re renting it out and moving to an apartment so we can afford groceries. Happy now?”
No, actually.
I didn’t take any pleasure in their misfortune. I only ever wanted them to stop screwing around with my life. Vera, on the other hand…
I snatched up a free box, stuffing it with my belongings. “Where’s your mother?”
While they had no right to kick me out of a home I owned, I didn’t trust them not to toss out my stuff.
“She’s not home,” Tabby lied at the exact same time Vera burst in from the garage, sweating in her skintight zebra-print bodysuit.
The fumes from her hair spray alone made me dizzy.
“Girls, you have to help me out here with the boxes—” Her words died in her throat the minute she spotted me. “What are you doing here, you little shit?”
Guess the gloves were officially off.
“Grabbing my stuff.” I flipped open the cabinet above the sink, fetching my favorite Mickey Mouse plate that Dad had kept because he knew I loved eating grilled cheese on it. “Oh, and delivering some news.”
“Let me guess—should I expect the sheriff here any time soon?” Vera folded her arms, eyes squinting at me like she was cocking a gun. “Because I obtained my own legal counse?—”
“I know you killed him.”
The silence that followed soaked into the walls. Vera turned the same shade as her bodysuit. Tabby and Reggie glanced at each other, whisper-shouting nonsense.
Tabby scratched her temple. Reggie’s head reared back. Neither looked particularly in-the-know. The panic on their faces said it all.
