Brian covered his face. “It got out of control.”
“What did?”
“Sports betting. Loans. Cash advances. Melissa said the house could fix it.”
Melissa snapped, “Do not put this on me.”
Brian turned on her. “You pushed it.”
“I pushed it because you were useless.”
The words hit him harder than my anger ever could.
He stared at her like he was finally seeing the woman I had seen for years.
Melissa pointed at me.
“He was sitting on a paid-off house worth half a million dollars while we were suffocating. What was the plan, Brian? Wait for him to die?”
Rachel gasped.
The officer’s pen stopped moving.
Brian whispered, “Melissa.”
But she was too far gone.
She looked at me with all the contempt she had hidden behind perfume and false sweetness.
“You think you’re a victim because of one dog bowl? Old people do this all the time. You hoard houses, money, and memories, then expect everyone else to bow because you survived long enough to own things.”
