“It’s my property,” I said calmly, though I was boiling inside. “I can come whenever I want.”

She smiled, a cruel, knowing smile. “Of course,” she said, walking towards me. “Though technically it now belongs to your daughter and my son, doesn’t it? They’re married. What belongs to one belongs to the other.”

I felt my skin crawl. This woman knew exactly which buttons to push.

“Laura,” I called, without taking my eyes off Rosalyn, the viper dressed as a respectable lady. “Come here, please.”

My daughter looked up from the sink, her eyes red and swollen. “I’m busy, Mom,” she said in a broken voice.