Erase Me? I'll Erase You

The air in the upstairs hallway was thick with the scent of expensive perfume, and I paused, my hand hovering over my bedroom door. For three decades, I was the unseen force behind my husband, the Governor of Texas, building his dynasty brick by painful brick. But then, voices from my son' s room shredded that illusion: my daughters-in-law, their hushed tones revealing a chilling plot. "Stress-induced heart failure within five years," one whispered, detailing my supposed "natural decline" as a pre-programmed exit for a new woman, Sabrina, my husband' s dead college sweetheart' s daughter. My breath hitched-they were discussing a "system" and a payoff for my demise, orchestrated by my own husband and sons. The family I built, the sons I raised, saw me as nothing more than a placeholder, destined to conveniently die so a younger, 'fresher' face could inherit my life. A cold dread, sharp and sickening, turned into a burning rage that pulsed through my veins. They wanted me gone? They wanted a compliant, tragic matriarch? I ripped open the door to Andrew' s room, my voice dangerously calm as I asked, "Tell me more about this 'system' ." They were speechless, frozen in fear, but I wasn't going to die quietly for their convenience. I was going to burn their carefully constructed world down.