Chapter 1The moment my daughter's heart stopped from an electric shock and needed to be sent to the hospital? My mother-in-law LOCKED THE DOOR from the outside.
"Your room's a pigsty. You want people seeing that?"
"Mop the floor. Send me a photo. I approve it, I unlock the door."
I lost it.
I choked down my rage. Explained the situation. Begged my husband to make her open the door.
He tried.
She didn't budge.
She kept it locked.
Turned on a signal jammer so I couldn't call the police.
Stopped the ambulance in the yard.
Then my daughter died.
After she was gone, my mother-in-law hit me with this.
"How was I supposed to know it was THAT serious? I was trying to save you from embarrassment."
"Besides, you could've just mopped the floor. But you didn't. That's on YOU."
I wanted to kill her.
My husband held me back, his eyes shifty as hell.
"She's gone. Can't change that. You love kids so much? We'll just have another one."
My head spun.
That's when it hit me—this was deliberate.
Now I'm getting a second chance.
This time, when my mother-in-law tells me to mop the floor from behind that door?
I'm not in a hurry.
This time, SHE'LL be the one crying...
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I carried my daughter to the guest bedroom in the master suite, let her fall asleep, and took off her hearing aids.
The moment I set them down, I heard a heavy thud from the master bedroom.
I stepped out, locked the guest bedroom door behind me, and saw my scumbag husband, Mason Braxton, lying on the floor, convulsing.
A few moments later, he was unconscious, foam at his mouth.
This wasn't my first time seeing this.
I grabbed a wooden chair, pushed the faulty toy away from his hand, and checked his chest.
I'm not a doctor, but I'd taken a few first-aid classes.
It was clear.
Mason had been electrocuted and was in cardiac arrest.
He needed a hospital immediately.
Before I could react, my mother-in-law, Edna Braxton, knocked.
She didn't barge in like usual; instead, she called out, sounding almost hopeful.
"Freya, I heard something fall. What's going on in there?"
I put on a panicked voice.
"Mom. It's bad."
"The toy you got for Lila is faulty. It shocked him. He's unconscious, and I think his heart has stopped. I already called an ambulance."
"I need to do CPR. Could you go to the garage and grab the AED from my car? We have to help him now."
"The first few minutes are critical. If we wait, it'll be too late."
Hearing my response, Edna almost laughed.
Without hesitating, she used the new lock she'd installed and bolted the master suite door from the outside.
"Freya, it's not that I don't know what's important."
"But I just heard something fall. The snacks I brought you are all over the floor. That room must be a disaster."
"So clean it up first. Otherwise, how embarrassing would that be?"
Hearing that, I nearly laughed.
When someone's in cardiac arrest, every second counts, and she wants me to mop the floor. Only after the room is spotless can I go out—or let the paramedics in.
But I wasn't surprised, and I wasn't worried.
Chapter 2
Because I'd been through this before.
Mason, Lila, and I had come back to visit Edna.
When we got here, I found out she'd renovated the mansion we'd built for her.
She'd combined the three second-floor bedrooms into a master suite with a living area and installed mismatched security bars.
The suite door had two awkward handles.
Last time, I hadn't thought much of them.
But after what happened to Lila, I realized they were there to lock the door from the outside.
So this was all deliberate.
She'd pretended she didn't want to live with us in the city and insisted on staying at the mansion. Then, not long after coming back, she said she wasn't feeling well and wanted to see us and Lila. She'd put a kitten toy Lila loved in the suite's small living area.
Back then, I was touched.
I thought Edna was finally accepting Lila despite her disability.
But the moment Lila touched it, she collapsed in cardiac arrest.
I don't want to relive what happened next.
I had to watch Lila die slowly, helpless to stop it.
Why did they do it? Just because Lila had hearing loss and wasn't "perfect."
They wanted me to give her away and have a second child...
But this time, the one who got shocked wasn't Lila.
It was Mason.
And I wasn't hiding it from Edna.
"Mom, you can't be serious."
"Mason is dying, and you want me to mop the floor?"
"The paramedics will take him as soon as they get here. They're not going to check if your floor is clean, and no one's going to laugh at you."
Her voice, which had been smug with a plan unfolding, turned cold.
"Freya, are you insane?"
"Mason is your husband. How can you curse him like that? There's no way he got shocked. He knows—"
My heart skipped.
I listened carefully, hoping she'd slip and admit that Mason knew the toy was faulty and was in on it.
But she caught herself.
She quickly changed direction.
"Mason is a grown man. Why would he play with a kid's toy?"
"If you're going to lie, at least come up with something believable."
"And it's not like I'm never opening the door. Just clean the floor, and I'll unlock it. By then the ambulance will be here. That works for everyone, doesn't it?"
"I'm doing this for you. I don't want people thinking we're rich slobs. How embarrassing would that be?"
Edna was getting angrier, embarrassed now.
She didn't even give me time to suggest calling the police.
She just turned on the jammer.
"You've already called the ambulance. You don't need to call or text anyone."
"Before they get here, you have plenty of time to clean the room."
But I hadn't said Mason touched it on purpose.
I sighed, making my voice sound more desperate.
"Mom, I'm not joking."
"Lila was in the car all day and fell asleep. She never even saw the toy."
"Mason wouldn't play with it, I know. But he slipped and fell into it."
"I'm doing CPR right now. I can't stop to mop."
"Please believe me. I wouldn't lie about something like this."
Chapter 3
I sounded sincere, not like I was joking at all.
Edna knew me well enough to know I never lied, especially about something this serious.
There was no reason for me to make this up.
She hesitated. I could tell.
But I knew her.
She loved arguing with me. So I pressed on.
"How about this—unlock the door, come see for yourself, and clean up while you're at it. That way no one has to be embarrassed, and Mason still gets help."
She'd actually been considering that.
But since I was the one suggesting it, she shot it down without a second thought.
"That won't work."
"Everything online says mothers-in-law need boundaries. I can't just barge into a married couple's room. That's why I haven't even stepped inside!"
I rolled my eyes internally.
Right. Boundaries.
Like when Mason and I first got married, and she snuck into our room to mess with our birth control so I'd get pregnant before I was ready.
When I wanted to terminate because we hadn't been planning it and I was worried about the baby's health, she threatened to kill herself if I went through with it.
Then when Lila was born with hearing loss, she blamed me.
But I didn't argue. I kept going.
"Fine. Then turn off the jammer."
"I'll take a photo so you can see it's Mason."
She scoffed.
"With AI these days, you could fake anything."
"And what if I turn it off and you start calling people? Everyone shows up, sees this mess, and laughs at us?"
"Why are you so stubborn?"
"Just let Mason wait while you clean up. It's not that hard."
"And don't think you can trick me into turning off the jammer. I'm standing right here. When I hear the room is clean, I'll open the door."
I tried to say more, but the ambulance arrived.
Not just them—half the neighbors came out too, craning their necks to see what was happening.
Edna muttered something about how fast they got there and walked out to the yard.
I stopped pretending to do CPR and went to the window.
I saw her spread her arms, blocking the paramedics.
"What are you doing? This is my house. Are you trying to trespass?"
They looked confused. "We got a call about an electric shock, cardiac arrest. Wrong address?"
"Wrong," she said firmly.
"Everyone here is fine. No one's sick. Get out of here. Stop making a scene for the neighbors."
I'd lived through this before.
Last time, my throat was tight, and Mason was holding me back.
"Don't make this worse, Freya. If you scream, Mom loses face. We're not staying here forever. People will laugh at her."
"Mom's just joking around. She'll let them in soon."
He kept telling me she was just messing around and would let them in eventually.
I couldn't get a word out.
But this time, no one was stopping me.
I shouted through the window.
"Help! Someone was electrocuted! I've been doing CPR, but I'm not strong enough. Please come in!"
"Mom, stop this! Someone is dying! This isn't a game!"
