"Brother-in-law, you've been holding out on us!" Nanette's tone dripped with reproach. "A deal this big and you don't even tell the family? Do you even consider us family at all?"
I stared at my daughter, and something inside me went cold, degree by degree.
All these years, I was the one who stayed up through the night when she was sick. I was the one who drove her to school every single day, rain or shine.
I thought—at the very least—she was on my side.
Instead, she'd handed them my last card.
I was done.
"I'm not playing anymore."
I turned to leave.
Isabel's voice cracked like a whip behind me.
"Leslie!"
"You walk out that door, and we're getting a divorce!"
I didn't look back.
"Then we're getting a divorce."
"I'm done being part of this circus."
The instant I pulled the door open, a chorus of screams erupted behind me.
I spun around.
Ramona had shoved the window open—I had no idea when. Frigid wind howled into the room, and she was already halfway out, her toes dangling over nothing.
In that moment, every drop of blood in my body ran backward.
"Ramona!"
"What are you doing?!"
The words ripped out of me, raw and ragged.