I didn’t respond when my husband humiliated me: “From today on, buy your own food and stop living off me.” I just smiled and played along… until his birthday, when 20 hungry relatives arrived and the kitchen was empty.

In the room, one of his uncles began murmuring about how Dominic was supposed to be the one supporting everything. Dominic blushed and told them that he was not going to let them tear him to pieces on his own birthday.

But it was too late because the image he had built in front of everyone was falling apart. Mrs. Miller closed the notebook and told him that she finally saw who he was when no one set limits for him.

I felt a strange relief mixed with sadness because for years I imagined no one would believe me. One of his brothers stated that they should just order some pizzas, so Dominic did it furiously while trembling with rage.

It cost him a fortune because he had to call three different places to get enough food for everyone. While he waited, no one touched a beer or cut the cake because the room felt empty from the weight of the discomfort.

I went out to the patio to get some fresh air, and Kimberly followed me out to apologize for laughing at his jokes before. “Everyone laughs about it until you are the one who finally breaks down,” I told her.

When we got back, Dominic was on his phone with eyes filled with hatred, and I knew he was not going to apologize. He told me through gritted teeth that if I was so bothered by being in this house, then maybe it was time for me to leave.

PART 3

I do not know what surprised his family more between the threat or the calm with which I placed my glass on the table. Dominic was beside himself because when he felt exposed, he always tried to crush the other person.

“Yes, you should leave because I pay for this house,” he blurted out while Mrs. Miller stood up abruptly. I looked at him with serenity and told him how curious it was that he would say that today.

I went to the drawer of the hall table and took out a blue folder to carry it to the table. Inside were the papers he had never bothered to look at because he assumed everything belonged to him.

I found the sheet I needed and placed it in front of him so he could finally read the truth. Dominic took it with annoyance, but then his face changed as he blinked in total shock.

The house where we lived did not belong to him or to both of us because it was mine. I had inherited it from my great-aunt two years earlier and used some of the money she left me to renovate the entire place.