"This is where I stand. You want money? Not happening."
I had no desire to deal with this family anymore, so I grabbed my car keys and drove back to my own apartment.
Outside the window, fireworks exploded across the sky, and I spent New Year's Eve alone.
That's how it stayed until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, when my husband and his sister finally showed up.
The moment Tanya walked in carrying armfuls of shopping bags, I blocked the doorway.
"Sorry, this house doesn't take in nannies."
Her face turned green.
I pulled out my phone and opened the calculator. "Perfect timing. Let's settle up. You lived in my house for an entire year—how much rent do you owe me?"
Tanya looked ready to explode. She threw her luggage on the ground and jabbed a finger at my face.
"I'd advise you not to push your luck. I'm being generous by not holding a grudge and continuing to live here—you should be grateful!"
"And you have the nerve to ask me for rent? What nanny doesn't get room and board?"
"Besides, don't forget—this is my brother's house too. What right do you have to kick me out!"
I glanced at Austin, who hadn't said a word since they arrived. His eyes were darting everywhere except at me.
I let a cold smile curl my lips. "But don't forget—this house is my personal premarital property. The Austin family didn't contribute a single dollar."
Tanya's mouth worked silently. She couldn't find a single comeback.
So she did what she did best—dropped to the floor and started wailing.
"The Austin family should never have let a cheap woman like you through the door!"
"All you do is bully honest people! Keep this up and I'll make my brother divorce you!"
I almost laughed out loud. Anyone listening would think we'd time-traveled back to the Qing dynasty.
The louder she screamed, the more neighbors came to watch. That only fired her up more. She started dabbing at her eyes and playing the victim.
"Everyone, look at this—who treats a sister-in-law like this?"
"I worked as a nanny for her family for a whole year. She didn't pay me a cent, and now she wants me to pay rent!"
"Someone tell me—is this fair? I slaved away for a year, and I'm the one who has to pay? How is anyone supposed to live?"
The neighbors started whispering behind their hands, shooting me looks of suspicion and disgust.
"How can a young woman be so heartless? If she treats her own sister-in-law like this, imagine how she treats everyone else."
"Right? She looks so sweet and gentle—who knew she was this vicious underneath. You really can't judge a book by its cover."
"Being a sister-in-law is just hard. You bend over backwards to please them, and you still end up losing money. So sad."
Watching her act so self-righteous, I was shaking with rage.
I turned around, walked into the room she'd occupied for a year, and threw every piece of luggage she'd left behind out the door.
"Both of you—get out. I never want to see you again."
The door slammed shut behind me. The frame rattled from the impact, and something in my chest sank right along with it.
Married for five years, and everything I'd given had been thrown to the dogs.
The bank card my mother-in-law used for her "medicine." Tanya's food, clothes, housing, transportation for this entire year. I paid for all of it.
Every connection Austin had at work, even the project proposals—I was the one who handled them.
That pathetic salary of his? He handed every cent over to his mother. Every single household expense came out of my pocket.
Five years of sacrifice, and this was my reward—accusations from a family of parasites.
My phone kept buzzing with message notifications.
