In the evening, Ethan returned to the house, radiant. He felt he had made a master stroke. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were already in his personal account, and he had transferred the down payment to the developer of Isla’s dream house. He felt like a winner. He felt he was one step ahead of Khloe. During dinner, Ethan seemed to eat with a great appetite and smiled to himself frequently. Khloe watched her husband with a cold gaze from behind her teacup.
Khloe knew exactly what Ethan had done. She knew that the deed from the safe had changed hands, but Ethan did not know one thing. The deed that was in the safe was a forgery that Khloe had deliberately placed there a few days before. The original deed was safely in a bank security box in her father’s name. Ethan had just mortgaged a fake document to a loan shark known for his cruelty and had just signed a legally binding debt contract in his name.
Ethan felt on top of the world. He even began to behave with a certain arrogance towards Khloe. He told Khloe to be more frugal with the monthly shopping when he himself had just squandered dirty money on his mistress. Khloe obeyed the order with submission. Inside, she was counting down the time until her husband’s ruin.
That night, Ethan slept soundly, dreaming of his new house with Isla. Meanwhile, Khloe sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her husband’s face, peaceful in his ignorance. Ethan had dug a very deep hole and had just voluntarily jumped into it.
Khloe whispered softly,
“Enjoy your last peaceful dream, darling, because tomorrow hell on earth will begin to greet you.”
The lifestyle trap had closed perfectly, and there was no spare key for Ethan to get out of it.
The morning at Khloe and Ethan’s residence felt different. There was a tension that slowly crept through the solid walls of the luxurious house. Today was the day of the arrival of Sharon, Ethan’s mother, who was coming from the country with the excuse that she missed her son and daughter-in-law. But Khloe knew very well what the real motivation behind this sudden visit was. Since Ethan told her about the plan for the $10 million transfer from Khloe’s father, Sharon’s attitude had changed 180°. If before she always made excuses about her old age and inability to travel far, now the middle-aged woman suddenly felt fit enough to undertake a several hour road trip to the big city. Khloe received the news of her mother-in-law’s arrival with a hard to interpret smile. She knew the vicious circle was completing. All the main actors in this drama of betrayal were finally gathering on the same stage, making it easier for Khloe to watch them and destroy them all at once.
Without a trace, Khloe had prepared the ground floor guest room impeccably, changing the sheets to new ones, and placing a vase of fresh flowers on the bedside table. A perfect welcome from a devoted daughter-in-law, the role she would continue to play until the curtain fell tragically. Ethan’s car entered the driveway just as the sun was beginning to rise. Khloe was at the front door dressed in elegant and modest clothes, ready to receive her mother-in-law. The car door opened and Sharon got out with a somewhat exaggerated style. The woman wore her best clothes with flashy gold jewelry on her wrists and neck, as if she wanted to show that she was the mother of a future millionaire. Her face looked fresh and healthy, far from the image of a seriously ill person that Ethan had described when he asked for permission to go to his hometown.
Khloe went forward and gave Sharon a respectful hug. Sharon pulled away a little quickly after the hug, and her eyes immediately scanned Khloe’s entire house with a critical gaze, as if she were a building inspector looking for faults. There was no warm hug or sincere questions about Khloe’s condition. The first sentence out of Sharon’s mouth was a sharp comment about the garden lawn, which she said was not well-kept enough, and about the paint on the fence, which she said was already worn. Despite Khloe having just hired a professional gardener the week before, the three entered the house. Ethan was busy carrying his mother’s large suitcases while Sharon walked like a queen, inspecting her new palace.
Khloe went to the kitchen to prepare drinks and snacks. From the living room, Khloe’s sharp ears caught the low-voiced conversation between mother and son. Sharon impatiently asked about the certainty of the $10 million. She whispered to Ethan to make sure the money did not go anywhere and reminded her son not to spoil Khloe too much. Khloe’s heart boiled hearing the cunning of that woman. It was clear that the apple does not fall far from the tree. Ethan’s manipulative and greedy nature was clearly inherited from his mother.
Khloe took a deep breath, calming the storm in her chest, and then came out with a tray of hot tea and biscuits. She placed the tray on the table carefully, trying to act normally in front of the woman who had contributed to destroying her marriage. While they enjoyed their tea, Sharon began to launch her subtle verbal attacks. She started comparing Khloe to Isla. Although she did not mention Isla’s name explicitly at first, the direction of her conversation was very clear. Sharon talked about a friend’s daughter from her town who was very good at taking care of her husband, cooking, and what hurt the most, very fertile, able to provide male grandchildren quickly. Khloe simply lowered her head, pretending to listen obediently.
