I had always assumed Sabina threw them out.
I never imagined they'd ended up on someone else's body.
I kicked the door open, startling all three people inside.
Rhys yelped and immediately let go, ducking behind Sabina.
Sabina looked briefly caught off guard, then asked with an uncomfortable expression:
"You... how are you back?"
I let out a cold laugh.
"It's my house. Why wouldn't I come back?"
Sabina faltered, about to say something, but Joey had already launched himself at me like a little cannonball.
His head slammed straight into my stomach.
I crashed backward into the corner of the table, a searing pain shooting through my lower back.
I stumbled and collapsed to the floor.
"Waaah! You big meanie! It's all your fault! Every time you show up, me and Daddy have to leave!"
"You're a bad person! Don't you have your own house? Why do you have to steal ours!"
Sabina pulled Joey back with an awkward expression, her face stern.
"Kids say the darndest things. It'd be pretty petty of you to hold it against a child."
I clenched my teeth and hauled myself to my feet.
"Fine. I won't hold it against the kid."
Before the satisfied smile could fully form on her face, I had already crossed the room and slapped Rhys hard across the face.
"When a child misbehaves, it's the father's fault. Rhys Whitney, you had that coming!"
But Sabina shoved me aside.
The next second, a searing pain exploded across my skull.
I staggered and hit the ground. Through a curtain of blood, I looked up at Sabina standing over me, the jagged neck of a broken bottle in her hand.
Her face was ice-cold.
"Are you done? Edgar! Clearly tonight's lesson wasn't enough for you!"
Something seemed to occur to her then, and her expression turned ugly.
"The bill tonight came to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You didn't have a cent on you. How did you pay?"
Before I could open my mouth, Rhys spoke up, his voice dripping with false concern.
"Edgar, even if you're upset with us, you shouldn't go hurting yourself like that."
"No wonder the manager was smiling at you when we left. Did you and her..."
He covered his mouth, putting on a show of horrified regret.
Sabina's fury ignited. She fixed me with a vicious glare.
"Edgar Finch! Rather than apologize, you'd rather seduce some old woman? This is how you treat me?"
"You're... how could you... You're disgusting! Absolutely revolting!"
Her hand trembled as she pointed toward the door.
"Get out! Get out right now!"
"You want to break up? Fine! We're done! Now get out of my sight!"
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and swayed to my feet.
"Sabina, this is my house. The ones who should be getting out are you three."
Rhys's eyes glinted with mockery, but his voice stayed gentle, patient.
"Edgar, I know you put in some money back in the day... but Sabina already transferred the deed to me. Sorry about that. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
My head snapped toward Sabina.
"You transferred our house to Rhys Whitney?"
Rhys walked over and slipped his arm around Sabina's slender waist, wearing an expression of pained reluctance.
"Sabina was worried Joey and I wouldn't feel comfortable living in someone else's home, so she put the house in my name."
"She said that way I'd finally have a place of my own..."
I had long since stopped expecting anything from her. But in that moment, the pain still cut through me like a knife.
"This is our home! We picked out every tile, every fixture together! Sabina! How could you do this?"
