My Husband Backed His Assistant-Until He Learned She Had Killed His Mother Novel – Chapter 1 On my mother-in-law’s fiftieth birthday, my husband’s female assistant sent me a photo. My mother-in-law was locked inside a metal dog crate, every tooth pulled from her mouth and blood smeared around her lips. My hands shook so badly I could barely hold my phone as I called Vanessa. “Vanessa, what the hell are you doing?!” Vanessa Reed gave a cold laugh on the other end of the line. “You’ve got some nerve asking me that. Mr. Walker just opened an upscale restaurant, and you had this old woman show up and eat without paying!” “What, are you people so broke you can’t even afford one meal? Well, let me tell you something. I’m not letting that old bitch get away with it!” I could hardly believe what I was hearing. “Are you insane? Do you even know who she is?!” Ethan Walker was famous throughout Chicago for putting family above everything else. Vanessa didn’t even blink. “Mr. Walker said your family isn’t his family. I can deal with her however I want!” Oh.
Vanessa had no idea who she’d gotten her hands on. She thought the woman in that cage was my mother. How interesting. She had mistaken her own boss’s mother for mine. What would a man who valued family more than anything do when he found out his own mother had been tortured? The next second, I sent the photo to my husband. Her boss. … As soon as Vanessa finished speaking, she hung up on me. I called Ethan immediately. “Ethan, Vanessa is abusing your mother. You need to get over there…” “Enough. I know what you’re trying to say.” Ethan cut me off, his voice ice-cold. “I think Vanessa did the right thing.” I froze. “What did you just say?” Ethan sighed, disappointment heavy in his voice. “Olivia, we’re married, but your mother still needs to understand basic boundaries. She can’t think that just because you married me, my restaurant, my money, and everything I own are hers for the taking.” My heart started pounding faster.
“Listen to me! I’m trying to help you right now…” “That’s enough.” Ethan cut me off again, this time with open impatience. “So what if she’s my mother-in-law? Today, she walks into my restaurant and eats without paying. Tomorrow, will she show up at my company demanding money?” “I want her taught a lesson! Vanessa is making sure she learns what she can and can’t do from now on. She’s right to do it!” I’d been frantic only moments ago, but now the panic slowly gave way to disappointment. My mother, Linda, had always lived in an ordinary small town. She wore old coats, rode long-distance buses, and never cared what anyone thought of her. She had worked for everything she had her entire life and had never taken advantage of anyone. When Ethan’s business was at its lowest point, Mom gave him every penny of her savings, money she had set aside for retirement. She had even cared for him like her own son. Yet now, according to Ethan, she was a shameless freeloader with no boundaries who deserved to be taught a lesson. I went silent for a few seconds. When I spoke again, my voice was calm.
“Ethan, I still think you should go to the restaurant and see for yourself. You’re not listening to a word I say anymore.” “Your own mother, the woman who raised you, is being abused. No matter how much you hate her, you can’t just stand by and do nothing.” Ethan exploded. “Olivia, have you lost your mind?! Since when did your mother ever raise me?” His anger rose with every word. “No wonder Vanessa couldn’t stop herself from teaching her a lesson! With a daughter like you, she could get beaten to death and still have it coming! She’d deserve it!” “Today is my mom’s fiftieth birthday, and I still have to get her birthday party ready.
I don’t have time to deal with your family’s mess! You’d better stay out of it too and let your mother remember this lesson.” Then he hung up. A few seconds later, my phone buzzed. [My mom’s birthday party is at a downtown hotel in one hour. Be there on time. Put on something nice, and don’t embarrass me like that hick mother of yours!] I didn’t bother explaining again. I sent the shortest reply possible. “Okay.” Since her own son had told me not to interfere, why the fuck should I keep worrying?