Full part: I returned without warning after four years in Canada and found my wife with a shaved head, skin and bones, eating scraps in the backyard. My mother said she had brought this punishment upon herself. I didn’t yell. I announced that I had just received a million-dollar settlement… and let my family’s greed trigger the trap.

Lucy said the doctor wanted her to continue treatment.

Theresa dismissed the doctors, then said the sentence that made my stomach turn.

“My son sends the money to my account. That means I decide how it gets used.”

Lucy pointed out the new SUV, Brianna’s nail salon, and the remodeled house. Then she said she had been sleeping in the storage shed.

“I just want to finish my treatment,” she whispered.

Theresa crossed her arms. “You should have thought about that before getting sick.”

I pushed the door open.

My suitcase hit the floor.

Brianna dropped her glass. Theresa grabbed her chest. Lucy stared at me as if I were a ghost.

“Nathan…”

I crossed the yard and knelt beside my wife. She felt terrifyingly light in my arms and smelled faintly of bleach, medicine, and damp clothes.

“I’m back, honey.”

She kept repeating my name.

Theresa immediately insisted things weren’t what they looked like. She accused Lucy of becoming unbearable after getting sick, demanding money, breaking things, even stealing jewelry.

I looked directly at the hummingbird pendant around my mother’s neck.

“Like that one?”