"He came home exhausted and found his pregnant wife cleaning his family’s mess — then he heard what they’d been calling her."

Teresa did not pack quietly.

She wanted the neighbors to hear. She wanted witnesses. She wanted the hallway turned into a courtroom where she could play the abandoned mother and I could be the ungrateful son.

“You’re choosing her over your blood!” she shouted, dragging a suitcase from the spare room.

Emily sat on the couch with a blanket around her shoulders, pale and exhausted. I had already texted my landlord, changed the Wi-Fi password, canceled Brittany’s phone line, and moved what was left of the baby fund into a new account only Emily and I could access.

Brittany cried when her phone stopped working.

Not when Emily went to the hospital.

When the phone stopped working.

Kayla cursed under her breath while packing shoes into trash bags. Lily moved silently, tears dripping off her chin.

I felt bad for Lily.

Not enough to let her stay.

Mom yanked open the front door.

Our neighbor Mrs. Alvarez stood in the hallway holding a laundry basket.

Teresa immediately changed her voice.

“Maria, can you believe this? My son is throwing his mother onto the street because his wife is jealous of us.”

Mrs. Alvarez looked past her at Emily.

Then at me.

Then back at Teresa.

“I heard enough through the wall,” she said.

Teresa blinked.

Mrs. Alvarez set down the basket. “I heard that poor girl crying more than once while you all sat around laughing. I should have knocked sooner.”

Emily covered her mouth.

Teresa’s face flushed. “This is family business.”

“Then maybe treat your family better.”

The hallway went still.

Brittany whispered, “Can we just go?”

Teresa turned on her. “Be quiet.”

But the power had shifted.

A second door opened down the hall. Mr. Patterson from 3B looked out. Then a younger couple from across the hall. People had heard more than I realized.

That was the thing about apartments.

Walls were thin.

Secrets were not as private as cruel people believed.

Teresa gripped her suitcase handle. “You’ll regret this, Ethan.”

“No,” I said. “I already regret letting it go this long.”

She looked toward Emily.

“You think he’ll always protect you?”

Emily stood slowly, one hand on her belly.

For a second, I thought she might shrink.

She didn’t.

“I don’t need him to fight every battle for me,” she said, voice shaking. “But I’m grateful he finally fought this one.”

Teresa had no answer for that.