Chapter 5 - The Ice-Cold Refusal
Paige didn't flinch. She didn't raise her voice. The cinematic realism of her total restraint was infinitely more terrifying than a shout.
She took a slow, deliberate breath, looking dead into the eyes of the mother who had thrown her away like garbage.
"Twelve years ago," Paige whispered, her voice completely quiet, yet dripping with an ice-cold, lethal finality that cut right through the noise of the idling truck. "You told me I wasn't your responsibility."
Diane completely froze. The arrogant, demanding entitlement violently drained from her face, replaced by a sudden, sickening flash of realization. She hadn't expected Paige to remember. She expected the desperate, approval-seeking teenager she had abused a decade ago.
Paige took a single, deliberate step backward, away from the locked gate. She gave the two massive German Shepherds a subtle hand signal to sit. They obeyed instantly, their golden eyes locked onto the intruders.
Paige looked directly at Diane, then at Mallory, and finally at Grant.
"And you still aren't mine," Paige stated, her voice firm, decisive, and entirely devoid of human empathy.
Mallory’s jaw dropped. The olive green sweater she wore seemed to hang loosely on her suddenly tense frame.
"Are you insane?!" Mallory shrieked, completely losing her high-society facade. "We are your family! We have nowhere else to go! The bank took the house! You live in a literal mansion, you selfish psycho!"
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"It's my mansion," Paige corrected smoothly. "And you aren't coming inside."
👉 What aggressive, desperate move will the entitled brother-in-law make?
