Chapter 5 - The Collapse
The next few hours were a blur of handcuffs, shouting, and the sickening reality of the masks being torn away. Heather confessed almost immediately, her greed and cowardice making her an easy target for the police. Walter, however, fought until the very end, claiming he had "rights" to the money.
Elmer sat on the couch, staring at the floor. He didn't defend them. He didn't defend me. He just sat there, a hollow man who had finally realized that his family was a poison he had been drinking for his entire life.
As the police led Lydia and Walter out, Lydia looked at me. For a second, the mask of the pious, stern mother-in-law returned. "You'll never survive without us. You’re nothing!"
"I was never the one who was nothing," I whispered. "I was the one who kept the lights on."
After they were gone, the apartment felt like a tomb. Elmer looked up at me. "Joanna, please. We can talk. We can fix this."
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"There is no 'we', Elmer," I said, picking up the small suitcase I had packed. "You chose their side every time they looked at me with disdain. You chose their comfort over your daughter's safety. You aren't my family."
I left him there—in the apartment that was now tied up in legal proceedings, surrounded by the wreckage of his family’s lies.
