Margot POV
That weekend I went home the way I always did—grocery bags digging into my wrists, the familiar creak of the front porch under my boots.
The house smelled of lemon cleaner and the faint medicinal edge of Ellen’s prescriptions.
She was already on the couch, arms folded tight across her chest, face set in that stillness that meant she’d been waiting for hours.
“Sit down,” she said. Not a request.
“We need to talk about the money.”
I set the bags on the counter and sat down.
Lisa, usually quiet in this house, shifted uneasily under my skin.
Ellen’s scent had gone sharp with worry.
“I got the call that the debt had been cleared. Every cent. I thought it was a scam at first. You told me it was a lab bonus. Margot, no research bonus in the world is that size. Where did i
