She scoffed. "He's just a useful dog. Tell him to go east, he won't dare go west. Tell him to eat shit, he won't even complain it's hot. If my mom hadn't made me promise to keep him, I'd have kicked him to the curb years ago."
"Hahahaha, true." Kevin sounded incredibly pleased with himself. "I saw how cowardly he was in the private room. Didn't even dare let out a fart. A man like that is just wasting air by being alive."
"Stop talking about him." She moaned. "Do it again..."
I stood at the bottom of the stairs, expression blank.
Then turned and walked toward the storage room at the end of the hall.
Elisa always claimed the "poor sour smell" on me was too heavy—that I wasn't worthy of sleeping in the master bedroom. I'd been relegated to the guest room. Often, the couch.
I pulled a battered tin box from under the guest bed.
Inside lay my only real possessions—relics from the orphanage. The expensive clothes Elisa had "bestowed" upon me to play the role of her well-dressed accessory? I left them where they hung.
I walked out just as Elisa and Kevin emerged from the master bedroom. They stood on the second-floor landing, staring down at me with cold contempt.
"Adam Mason, what trouble are you trying to stir up now?" Elisa clutched her silk robe.
I ignored her. Headed straight for the front door.
Her temper ignited. She grabbed a vase from a side table and hurled it.
*Crash.*
I sidestepped. Porcelain shattered against the floor where I'd stood a heartbeat before. I turned back. Looked up.
Checked my phone.
Three minutes.
The three-year agreement hadn't ended yet.
"Nothing." My voice was calm. "Just going out for a walk."
"If you dare walk out that door today, we are through!" She shrieked. "If you know what's good for you, get your ass up here and serve us. Clean up the room. Do that, and I won't hold you accountable for embarrassing me tonight."
I said nothing.
Turned around. Walked up the stairs.
Kevin burst into laughter. "I'm telling you, Elisa—your dog-training skills are world-class! You could make a career out of this."
Elisa snorted proudly, arms crossing. "This useless trash. If my mom hadn't been so soft-hearted... I don't know what kind of bewitching potion he gave her to make her insist I stay with him."
She sneered as I reached the landing. "A cowardly waste like him... if he leaves me, he'll never live this kind of luxury again in his entire life."
Hearing this, I finally laughed.
"Elisa, you're right." My voice was steady. "I really did rely on your mother to live a 'good life.'"
The contempt in her eyes deepened. She pointed a manicured finger toward the master bedroom, where tangled sheets lay in chaotic evidence.
"In there. We were a bit too... intense. Hurry up and change the sheets and the quilt. Why aren't you moving? We have important matters to discuss."
But I didn't move toward the bedroom.
I stood in place. Eyes locked on Elisa.
On my phone screen, the numbers shifted.
The time had passed.
"Elisa Fox." My voice dropped to a temperature that matched the frost in my gaze.
"I quit."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Kevin Gilbert clutched his stomach, that grating laugh scraping against the silence. "Elisa, look! The lapdog you keep is actually trying to rebel!"
Elisa Fox snapped out of her shock, her expression hardening into something cold. "What? You think just because you've hung around me for three years, you're suddenly part of the upper class?" She tilted her chin up. "You're nothing but a kept man, Adam. Have some self-awareness."
I didn't waste a single word on her.
I turned on my heel to leave.
Kevin stepped into my path, blocking the doorway.
I shoved him aside hard enough to make him stumble. "Elisa used a breakup to threaten me. Now that we've broken up, I have no reason to tolerate you." My voice dropped. "A good dog doesn't block the road."
Kevin regained his balance, his eyes locking onto the box in my arms. "I suspect you're stealing something! Open that box. I want to see what's inside!"
