My sister and I took our seats, not protesting. We were frightened and confused about the whole situation. Sarena was only twelve and much closer to my dad than I was. I didn’t want to panic, but my fear was starting to take over, and the sensations were nearly crippling.

My mother fidgeted with a manilla envelope on the table. Her fingers worked the edges nervously as she looked everywhere but at us.

“Mom, you’re scaring Sarena. Just spit it out. This waiting is making everything so much worse,” I finally said, pounding my fist on the table so forcefully that it visibly shook.

My mother’s gaze shot to me, and the pain was replaced with anger for a moment before it returned to a mournful look. “Your father had an affair with Mrs. Price, and her husband found out. He got him ostracized Throughout the city—the entire Eastern Seaboard. It all started two months ago—your father has been unemployed for two months! I had no idea. He never told me…” Her voice trailed off, her eyes on Sarena, her hand on my fist, wrapping around it as if she was trying to offer warmth and comfort. “I can’t believe I’m saying this…but your father is dead. He took his own life this morning. I went in and identified the body.”

I stood in shock while Sarena cried so hard that she began hyperventilating.

My father and I had always had a tumultuous relationship. I couldn’t remember one decent memory with the man. Most of my memories were of him drinking a Scotch and working, barely saying a word to my mother or me. Yet the knowledge that he was gone hit me with such force that I couldn’t breathe.

And then the anger hummed in my veins when the rest of my mother’s words finally set in. My father was having sex with another woman who wasn’t my mom. My father was having an affair with Devlynn’s mom.

“He was fucking Devlynn’s mom,” I blurted, not thinking about how callous and insensitive my words were.

I was a selfish, self-absorbed teen. Yes, I missed my father, but the world I had constructed so perfectly was tumbling down, block after block, on top of my head.

“Daddy is dead, and all you can think of is your rich girlfriend? Her whore mother is the reason our father is dead!” my sister hollered, her ice blue eyes filled with pure venom and lasered in on me.

“No, Sarena. Dad is the reason he’s dead. He killed himself.” My voice was level and emotionless, yet I felt the pain.

My father wanted to be part of that world more than he wanted us, his children. My rage and hatred for the upper crust set in at that moment, and my whole world changed.