I WAS A USELESS SON-IN-LAW, NOW I DECIDE FATE

A glimpse of the past

Back and forth, sofia kept pacing in the sitting room.

The clock on the wall had been ticking for hours or maybe minutes, she couldn't tell anymore since Edward walked out that door.

Pangs of sweat was all over her

Useless son-in-law!

She stopped mid-stride, arms crossed tight over her chest. He was useless. Absolutely worthless. The kind of man who had nothing going for him except... he cooked, He cleaned,

He ran their errands before the sun even came up, went to work, came back, and start all over again. Sometimes she'd call him during work hours just to see if he'd come running. And he always did. Always. With his Red-face and heavy breathing, but he never said no.

Sofia's jaw tightened.

She hadn't wanted him to leave yet. Not like this. Not with dignity. She wanted to watch him crumble first wanted to see the light drain out of those calm, steady eyes before she tossed his things onto the street. That was the plan. That was always the plan.

But Edward, that awkward, infuriating man, had somehow stepped around them and Slipped through their fingers like smoke.

Now he was gone.

Though she refused to admit it, but the truth was that they were never going to find another man like him. No one else would let them walk all over him the way Edward did. No one else would wake up at 4 a.m. to iron their clothes, scrub their dishes until they shone, run to the market in the rain because Ava or herself wanted fresh fish, and then clock into work like none of it mattered.

Ethan wouldn't do any of that. Ethan would hire people. Maids, cooks, drivers strangers with gloves and polite smiles who would walk out of the house the minutes their shift ended without a care if her back hurt or if Ava had a headache.

Sofia caught herself smiling.

At least Ethan has money.

But the smile faded almost as soon as it came. Because watching strangers work wasn't the same. There was no joy in that. No satisfaction. No little thrill of watching someone bow their head and say yes, ma'am even when his hands were cracked from scrubbing floors without getting any pay.

If only he didn't have that money.

Her breath caught.

The thought stuck like a fishbone in her throat.

Maybe.

she pressed her fingers to her temple

maybe Edward would have stayed if Ava had just done what she was told. If she had just followed the plan.

They would have had both Edward and Ethan. One to pay the bills, the other to lick their boots.

Sofia's eyes snapped across the room at the thought of Ava

She hadn't heard a single word from her daughter since Edward left. Not a whisper. Not a sniffle. Just silence.

"Where did he get that money from?" Sofia's voice cracked through the silence like a whip.

Ava flinched.

She was still standing by the door still standing there like a ghost who hadn't realized she was supposed to leave. Her back pressed flat against the wood, arms wrapped around her own ribs like she was holding herself together.

"I don't know, Mum."

Her voice came out thin. Small. The kind of voice that belonged to a little girl, not a woman who had just told her husband to leave.

Ava shuffled toward the couch. Her legs felt like they were wading through water. She sank onto the armrest, not quite sitting, not quite standing caught somehow in between.

"I think he was saving it," she added quickly, because her mother's eyes were still digging into her. "For a while. Maybe."

The words tasted like betrayal on her tongue. But the deed was done, wasn't it? Edward was gone. The door had closed. And there was a saying, wasn't there if you can't beat them, join them? So she was going to do the needful.

Sofia let out a long breath. Then another. She walked towards Ava then took her hands in hers, squeezing until the girl's knuckles went white.

"Don't tell me you regret this already." Her voice was soft now. As if she wasn't the brain behind the whole thing. "You want to change your mind and end up with a rat instead of the owner of the house?"

Ava looked at their joined hands without a word beside there was nothing she could do than agree with her.

"Edward doesn't deserve you," Sofia whispered, squeezing harder. "You hear me? He never did."

Sofia knew the game very well if she was going to get Ava to finally sign the divorce papers with that useless man, then Ethan can legally come into their lives and she couldn't wait to live that comfortable life with the Gavins money again.

The buzzing of a phone, soon disrupted the mother and daughter's thought.

At the sound, Ava recognized the ringtone the call was from her phone.

She stood up slowly, tracing the ringtone to the other sofa, but on getting there, she just stared at the screen.

Sofia pushed her head forward as she was behind Ava.

'Ethan Gavins.'

Her whole face transformed. The creases around her mouth smoothed out, her eyes lit up, and she let out a little squeal like a child on seeing her favorite candy.

Without wasting time, She snatched the phone off the cushion before it ended, stabbed the green button with her thumb, and slammed it onto speaker.

"Hi, Ava."

Ethan's voice came up filling the room.

"I've prepared a little gift for that soon-to-be-divorced husband of yours." He pause "He'll receive it soon enough."

Ava's heart knocked against her ribs.

"But that aside let's meet again. My driver will be there to pick you up shortly."

Sofia's nails dug into Ava's palm.

"Say something," she nudged.

"O-oh." Ava's voice cracked. She cleared her throat. "I'd love that. See you in a bit."

The line went dead.

Sofia clapped her hands together once, sharp and satisfied. But Ava barely heard it.

A strange thought clouded her mind... He want to have me again this man doesn't love me, Ethan doesn't love me!

She laughed inwardly was she really expecting Ethan to love her? Isn't it obvious he just want to have her just to piss his brother? How foolish of her to fall a prey for Ethan's revenge

Back in college he couldn't have her then Edward suddenly appeared and they fell in love now Ethan was back for his revenge he came to prove he still got her anyway and she had foolishly fallen for it all.

Outside, the sky had gone dark. streetlights flicker to life one by one. Edward had been gone for hours now. No coat. No umbrella.

Where is he?

But She shoved the thought away so fast.

This is what I have chosen so I must live with it.

The streets of Goldmere City never really slept as lights were always on every street as though it was day.

Edward knew this because he had walked them enough times early mornings before the sun remembered to rise, late nights when the moon was the only thing keeping him company. But tonight felt different. Tonight, the street lamps seemed dimmer. The wind felt sharper.

His mind kept drifting back to the Instant Delivery compound.

"The instructions were simple. Deliver the dress. Get a bonus of fifty dollars for one trip. And you had the nerve to hit one of our top clients?"his boss's face was purple with rage

Edward's jaw tightened at the memory. The man hadn't even asked what happened.

He had just yelled.

"You've lost your job. I can't risk my company for a worthless man like you."

Worthless.

Edward had stood there in the middle of the compound, other delivery guys pretending not to watch from the corners of their eyes. The boss had stuck out his hand for the bike keys

"Cuff the bike before you leave. You'll get your salary at the window." He said pointing to the window of his office which was upstairs.

Edward had looked that man in the eye the way you look at someone when you've got nothing left to lose and said, "I don't need the money."

The boss had blinked.

"The money from my humiliation? Keep it."

He pulled the keys from his pocket and tossed them. They clattered against the concrete floor

"For your information, I came to return the bike. And to announce my resignation."

The silence after that had been thick enough to choke on.

Edward remembered watching confusion crawl across the boss's face. Confusion, then something that looked almost like panic. The man had expected him to beg. To fall to his knees right there in the dirt and plead for a job that paid pennies and treated him like garbage.

"What's wrong with you?" the boss had sputtered. "You have nothing to your name, yet you can't even roll on the floor and beg?"

Edward almost laughed.

Nothing to his name. It was true, wasn't it? No house. No car. A bank account so empty it echoed. But dignity that didn't cost a thing. And no one, not even a desperate man, should have to sell it for fifty dollars.

"I don't have money, but I have dignity." He said before walking out leaving his boss and colleagues stunned.

His buzzing phone jotted him back to reality

He pulled the phone out from his pant's pocket then frowned at the screen.

A Private number was calling and he had several missed calls already.

His thumb hovered over the red button for a moment. Then he swiped green.

"EDWARD, YOU BASTARD!" A man's voice roared from the other end "YOU FIGHT YOUR BROTHER?"

Behind the man's voice, another one cut through sharper "YOU DARE HIT MY SON?"

Edward's feet stopped moving. He stood in the middle of the sidewalk because he recognized the voices, Caleb and Ruby.

"Just watch and see, you son of a nobody!" The female's voice continued

"I will make life difficult for you! All you've ever done for this family is nothing! We fed you! We clothed you! And yet you are still just like your late parents"

"Ruby!" The man's voice was different now. Lower like a Warning. "How dare you!"

Edward could hear the struggle on the other end as they scuffle for the phone.

With their voices at the background.

"It's time he knew the truth!" The woman was shouting now, her voice crackling through the speaker like fire. "He is an orphan! Stop being scared, Caleb! He cannot do a thing to you now! He delivers packages, and Ethan said he made him lose his job minutes ago! So where would he get money to fight a powerful man like you?"

Orphan.

Late parents. He knew his mother was late but parents meant both right?

There was more struggling. Muffled shouting. Then click.

The line went dead.

Edward stood there for a long moment, the phone still pressed to his ear, listening to nothing.

An orphan.

He looked down at his hands. The knuckles were still scabbed from where he had hit Ethan.

What truth?

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and started walking again.

He didn't know where he was going.

But he knew he couldn't stop.

His phone buzzed twice.

Hoping Ruby have texted to spill more, he quickly took out his phone but he was disappointed on seeing the text.

But he pause…. from the content someone had been watching him, someone from his past that he knew nothing of.