Page 14 of Property of Chaos

“Unless the lawyer is part of his inner circle.” I roll over and adjust myself to a seated position. Murphy promptly makes himself at home in my lap.

Marianna hesitates unpacking our dinner to stare at me. “He’s really that influential?”

“Worse.” I absently scratch Murphy’s back, eliciting a content purr from the critter. “How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing. You paid for the last, like, I don’t know, four times we had takeout? It’s my turn.”

“I pay because it’s my existential crisis that means you end up here.”

She smirks, shoving forks into the takeout boxes. “And you repay me by listening to me bitch about my asshole husband.”

I tilt my head, accepting dinner from her with thanks. “Why did you marry him?”

Marianna settles in the chair again with a sigh. “It’s complicated.”

I wave a hand the length of me. “You’re talking to the very definition of complicated.” I swat Murphy’s attempt at sniffing my Lo Mein.

She smiles, pausing to chew a forkful of noodles. “I knew people would lose their minds because he’s older than my daddy.” She shrugs, eating another small mouthful. “But he was the first person who told me I could achieve anything I wanted out of life, you know? And I think that the part of me who was so desperate for praise latched onto him even though I knew hewas a fucking asshole.” She chuckles, pulling a smile from me. “I shouldn’t complain. He helped me get my realtor’s license, paid for my initial advertising, and bought me a car that gave the impression of success to clients, all for letting him fuck me three or four times a year.”

“You’re such a sell-out,” I tease.

She smiles, ducking her head. “Honestly. He lets me keep the lights off so you could call him chivalrous.”

We pause a second before I let rip a snort that has Murphy scrambling for safety. The two of us erupt into peals of laughter, gasping for air as it dies down. I fucking love how she manages to make my issues feel normal—trivial.

For those fleeting seconds of joy, I forget who I am. I’m exactly who I want to be instead.

Marianna nods toward the discarded letter. “What happens if you ignore it?”

I shovel warm ramen into my mouth and shrug as I stare at the offending pages. “Dunno.”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full.” She fills hers and mumbles around the food, “It’s un-ladylike.”

I shove more in. “Terrible.” The word comes out as one smooshed syllable.

We both chuckle—Marianna shoving the back of one hand to her mouth to stop anything from falling free.

A pang of sadness sears outward from my heart. I wish I’d had a sister like her growing up. I wish I’d had a best friend like her while I was inside my childhood home. But then, would I have wanted to leave? Did having nothing to tie me there make it easier to make that choice?

I glance at the lawyer’s letter again.Not exactly nothing.I always had her in the back of my mind. That niggling curiosity. What would she have been like outside his influence? Would shehave loved me as much? Been as sweet and kind? Or was that all part of her supplication toward him?

“I’ve got one possible option,” I mutter.

Marianna sets her fork in the box. “Yeah?”

I place the Chinese on the floor between my folded legs and lean left to retrieve the torn cardboard. “My aunt gave me her number long ago when I was still there.” I hold it up for Marianna to see. “I don’t know if it’s still her number or if she’d still want to help me.”

My bestie plucks the digits from my fingertips. “Only one way to find out.” She sets her dinner aside and crosses the room to retrieve her phone. “What’s her name?”

“Evelyn.”

“And you think she might know because your mother is her sister?”

I roll my bottom lip between my teeth. “Sister-in-law.”

“Oh.” Marianna’s eyes widen. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” I retrieve the food and idly push it around the box. “I don’t even know if she’s still on the outside or if he’s got to her too.”

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