“Your mama’s dead. So what? You better serve my guests or you can sleep on the street.”
Those words didn’t just hang in the air; they slashed through the kitchen like a butcher’s cleaver. My husband, Kyrie Payton, laughed after he said them—a cold, jagged sound that reminded me of ice cracking under pressure. I stood there, paralyzed, my hands trembling over a roasting pan. I served the food with tears streaming down my face, salting the meal with my grief.
But to understand the weight of the silence that followed, we have to go back four hours.
I, Zanab, stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring at the kettle as it went cold. The call from the hospital had come exactly at noon. The doctor spoke in a dry, business-like tone, but I only remembered one word: expired. My mother, Eta, was gone. For four hours, I sat on a stool, staring at a spot on the wall until the front door slammed in the hallway.
Kyrie was back. He flew into the kitchen, loosening his tie as he walked, and immediately twisted his face in disgust. The stove was empty. No smell of roast duck, no prep work done.
“Are you deaf or something?” he barked instead of saying hello. “I called you this morning. Today is the day Thaddius Vance, my new CEO, is coming over. Whether I become VP or rot in middle management depends on this dinner. Where is the duck? Where are the appetizers?”
I looked up at him with red, swollen eyes. I tried to speak firmly, but my voice cracked into a whisper. “Kyrie, Mama’s gone. She passed away today at noon.”
Kyrie froze for a second. He looked at me, then at the empty table, and an expression of extreme annoyance crossed his face, as if his car had broken down at an inconvenient time.
“Died?” he asked coldly. “Well, we all got to go sometime. She was over sixty, had a weak heart. It was expected.”
“Expected?” I stood up, my legs shaking. “Kyrie, that is my mother. I can’t… I can’t host guests today. Call them. Cancel. Tell them we have a death in the family.”
Kyrie stepped right up to me. He was a head taller and knew how to use his height to intimidate. He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me hard.
“You don’t seem to understand,” he hissed in my face, his breath smelling of stale coffee and ambition. “Vance isn’t the kind of man you say no to. He’s driving all the way across town to see how his potential VP lives. If you start playing the tragedy card and mess this up, I will throw you out right now onto the street.”
I looked out the window. Beyond the glass, the February wind was howling, sweeping snow against the gray apartment complex. I had no money, no keys to my mother’s apartment because I’d left them at the hospital. I had nowhere to go.
“You wouldn’t do that,” I said quietly.
“Try me,” Kyrie sneered. “This is a corporate apartment leased to the firm. You are nobody here. You have two hours. Wash your face, put on some makeup, make this table look like Thanksgiving, and wipe that miserable look off your face. Guests want a party, not a funeral.”
Fear of my husband and a habit of submission had eaten into me deeper than I thought over ten years of marriage. I swallowed my tears as I chopped vegetables. My hands were shaking, the knife slipping, but I kept cooking.
When the duck was in the oven, I went to change. My hand reached for the bright beige dress Kyrie liked, but my fingers chose something else on their own. A strict, high-necked black dress that hit below the knees. It was my quiet rebellion, the only way to honor my mother’s memory in this house of absurdity.
The Dinner Party from Hell
Exactly at 7:00 p.m., the doorbell rang. Kyrie threw the door open, spreading a fake, wide smile.
“Mr. Vance, what an honor. Please come in.”
A tall, solemn man of about sixty-five walked into the entryway. He leaned on a heavy cane with a silver handle. His gaze was sharp, heavy. He looked around the cramped hallway, the cheap wallpaper, and finally rested his eyes on Kyrie.
“I hope the dinner is worth dragging myself all this way,” he grumbled in a deep bass voice, taking off his coat.
“Oh, my wife is a culinary miracle,” Kyrie pushed me forward. “Meet my Zanab.”
Thaddius Vance nodded at me without smiling. I tried to squeeze out a greeting, but my throat seized up in a spasm. I just bowed my head and quickly retreated to the kitchen.
Dinner turned into torture. Kyrie kept cracking jokes, pouring cognac for his boss, and endlessly bragging about his non-existent achievements. I brought out plates, changed silverware. Tears flowed down my cheeks, continuously, silently dripping onto the collar of my black dress.
Kyrie noticed when I leaned in to take an empty plate. He kicked me hard on the ankle under the table. I let out a small cry but immediately covered my mouth with my hand.
“What’s wrong with you, dear?” Thaddius asked, looking up from his food.
“She’s just so clumsy,” Kyrie interjected quickly, flashing a vicious glare at me. “And too sentimental. She saw a stray kitten this morning, still crying about it. Women, right, Mr. Vance?”
The guest didn’t answer. He was watching me closely. In his eyes, there wasn’t irritation, but a strange, intense curiosity.
“More wine, Mr. Vance?” I asked with a trembling voice.
Picking up the bottle, I approached the guest from the right side. My hands were shaking so badly that the neck of the bottle clinked against the glass. I reached forward, and at that moment, the wide sleeve of my black dress slid down to my elbow.
On my thin, pale wrist, an antique silver locket on a heavy chain gleamed. On the lid of the locket was an intricate engraving: two crossed keys and a phoenix.
Thaddius Vance froze. His hand shot forward with unexpected speed for his age and grabbed my wrist. The wine bottle slipped from my fingers and smashed on the floor, flooding the linoleum with a red puddle.
“What are you doing, you idiot!” Kyrie yelled, jumping up. “That’s vintage wine!”
“Silence!” Thaddius barked so loud that Kyrie plopped back down into his chair.
The old man didn’t let go of my hand. He pulled me closer to the light, peering at the locket. His fingers were trembling.
“Where did you get this?” he asked hoarsely. “This crest? Where?”
I looked at him in fear. “It’s… It’s Mama’s. She gave it to me a long time ago. Told me to keep it safe and never take it off.”
Thaddius raised his eyes to mine. Now he was looking at my face as if he were seeing a ghost. He studied the shape of my eyes, the line of my cheekbones.
“What was your mother’s name?” he asked quietly.
“Eta Griggs.”
“And her maiden name?”
“I don’t know. She never said. She told me she had no family except me.”
Thaddius slowly loosened his fingers. He leaned heavily on his cane and stood up with effort. His face, usually flushed with authority, had turned gray.
“Eta,” he whispered. “Eta… Thirty years I’ve been looking for her. Thirty years.” He turned to me, and there were tears in his eyes. “Why are you in black, child? Why have you been crying all evening? Answer me.”
I sobbed, unable to hold it in anymore. “Mama died today at noon.”
A deathly silence hung in the room. You could hear the refrigerator humming. Thaddius closed his eyes, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Then he opened them, and a storm of rage was raging inside. He slowly turned his head toward Kyrie.
Kyrie sat pale, mouth open, shifting his gaze from his boss to his wife. “Mr. Vance, I… I didn’t know you two knew each other. She’s just a… you forced her…”
Thaddius’s voice sounded like the rumble of an approaching avalanche. “Her mother died today. My own sister. And you forced her to roast a duck and serve you like a maid.”
“Sister?” Kyrie squeaked. “But she’s just a seamstress. She was a Vance?”
Thaddius struck the floor with his cane. “She ran away from our tyrant of a father thirty years ago to save her child. To save you, Zanab. She walked away from millions to live in peace. And you?” Thaddius stepped toward Kyrie. Kyrie pressed himself into the back of his chair.
“You are not just fired, Mr. Payton. You are finished. Tomorrow morning, no decent company in this city will even open your resume. I will personally see to it that you are sweeping parking lots for the rest of your days.”
Kyrie, realizing he had nothing left to lose, suddenly sneered. His face twisted with malice. “Oh, is that right? Well, both of you can go to hell. Just keep in mind, Mr. Vance, you are currently in my apartment. And you, Zanab, too. This is corporate housing provided to me by contract. Since I’m fired, I demand that unauthorized persons vacate the premises. And as for you, Wifey, we’ll settle this in court. Get out.”
Kyrie crossed his arms triumphantly, feeling like he’d gotten the last word.
Thaddius suddenly started laughing. It was a terrifying, dry laugh. He pulled his phone from his pocket, dialed a number, and put it on speaker.
“Legal department, this is Vance. Pull up the file on the Payton apartment, 45 King Drive, Unit 12. Whose books is it on?”
The voice on the phone answered clearly and loudly. “Mr. Vance, that real estate is not on the holding company’s books. Five years ago, that building was transferred to the private Vance Family Trust. According to the trust bylaws, direct heirs of the family have ownership rights.”
Thaddius hung up and looked at Kyrie, who had started sliding off his chair.
“You didn’t live here because you’re a valuable employee, Payton. You lived here because my security team has long suspected where Eta might be. And we kept this property just in case. This apartment belongs to the trust, and the sole heir of my sister is right here.” Thaddius pointed his cane at me. “So, it’s not you kicking us out. It is Zanab who will decide right now if you stay under the roof she owns.”
Kyrie shifted his gaze to me. For the first time in years, genuine animal fear appeared in his eyes.
I wiped my tears and took a step forward. “Get out,” I said quietly but firmly, pointing at the door.
Kyrie backed away, hit his back against the door frame, and suddenly his face distorted. Fear was replaced by a wild, cornered rage. He lunged sideways, grabbed a heavy crystal vase from the table, and hurled it with all his might at the wall next to Thaddius’s head. Shards flew everywhere.
“You’re the ones getting out!” he screeched, his voice cracking into a falsetto. “This is my house! I’m registered here! Just try and touch me!”
He dashed into the hallway and, before Thaddius could intercept him with the cane, slammed the heavy metal door right in our faces. One lock clicked, then the second, and the chain rattled.
“I’m calling the police!” His muffled scream came from behind the door. “Hello, 911? Get here immediately. 45 King Drive. My wife got drunk, brought some thug over. They’re breaking furniture, threatening to kill me. She’s having a psychotic episode. She’s unstable.”
We stood on the landing, staring at the closed door of my own apartment. I heard my husband continue to lie hysterically into the phone.
“We need to break the door down,” Thaddius growled, gripping the handle of his cane until his knuckles turned white. “I’ll call my security.”
“No.” I shook my head. I had no strength left to fight. “The police will believe him. He knows how to be convincing. And look at me… crying in a stranger’s apartment on paper. They’ll take us to the precinct until they sort it out. I don’t want to spend the night of Mama’s death in a holding cell.”
Thaddius sighed heavily, admitting I was right. He draped his cashmere coat over my shoulders since my things were still inside. “Let’s go. You can’t stay here.”
That night, amidst the luxury of Thaddius’s estate, I learned the truth about my mother’s flight from a cruel dynasty. But peace was not a luxury I could afford yet. The war had just begun.
