Chapter 1

For seven years, I was a ghost in the Anderson family's sprawling Willamette Valley estate. My official title was Nicole Anderson's husband, but my real job was groundskeeper, cook, and glorified house husband. I owed them. They took me in when I was seventeen, right after my parents died in a logging accident up in the Cascades. They paid for my college, a business degree I never wanted, instead of the fermentation science program I dreamed of.

In return for their charity, I suppressed my own life. My dream of opening a microbrewery, of crafting IPAs and stouts that tasted of the Oregon forests, was buried under years of mowing their perfect lawns and cooking meals Nicole would barely touch. I married their daughter, a beautiful, entitled socialite who found my rural background embarrassing. We had a daughter, Molly, who was taught to call me "Ethan," never "Dad." To her, I was just another part of the household staff.

The Andersons, Nicole' s parents, never let me forget my place. I was the "hick" from logging country, a charity case living off their generosity. They got me a stable, soul-crushing job at a local bottling plant, a place where other people's dreams were sealed in glass and shipped away.

Yesterday, after seven years of thankless work, I got a promotion. Manager of the night shift. It wasn't my microbrewery, but it was something. My colleagues, a few guys from the plant, insisted on taking me out for a celebratory dinner. A few beers, a plate of greasy fries. It felt good. Normal.

The dinner ran late. It was almost midnight when I pulled my old pickup truck up to the Anderson estate's security gate. I punched in the code.

Access Denied.

I tried again. Same result. Nicole had changed it. She did this sometimes, a petty power move when I inconvenienced her social schedule.

I got out of the truck, the cold Oregon air biting through my thin jacket. I walked to the pedestrian gate and peered through the iron bars. A light was on in the living room. I saw Molly' s small silhouette pass by the window.

"Molly," I called out, my voice quiet. "It's Ethan. Can you let me in?"

She stopped and looked directly at the gate. I saw her small face, illuminated by the house lights. She saw me. Then, she turned and walked away, disappearing deeper into the house. She didn't get her mom. She didn't open the door. She just left me standing there.

My phone was dead. I had no other way in. The finality of it settled in my bones, colder than the night air. I walked back to my truck, the engine ticking as it cooled. I spent the night in the cab, curled uncomfortably on the worn bench seat, staring at the grand house that was never my home.

That was the breaking point. The years of quiet resentment, of swallowed pride and buried dreams, all coalesced into a single, hard decision.

The next morning, when a groundskeeper finally opened the gate for the morning shift, I walked straight into the house. Nicole was in the kitchen, scrolling through her phone, dressed in expensive yoga pants she' d never use for yoga.

"You're late," she said, not looking up. "Molly wants pancakes. The fancy kind, not your box mix."

"We need to talk," I said. My voice was calm, devoid of the anger that had kept me warm all night.

She finally looked up, annoyed. "What now, Ethan?"

"I want a divorce."

She laughed. A short, incredulous bark. "A divorce? Are you serious? Over what? Because you had to sleep in your truck? Don't be so dramatic. It was one night."

"It was the last night," I said. "I'm done."

Her expression shifted from amusement to anger. "You can't divorce me. What would you do? Where would you go? You have nothing. This house, your job, that truck-it's all because of us."

"I know," I said. I pulled a set of papers from my jacket pocket. I' d downloaded them on the library computer this morning and had them notarized. "I'm quitting the job. I'm signing the truck over to you. It can be my first contribution to child support. I waive all rights to this house and any of your family's assets."

She stared at the papers, her mouth slightly open. "What about Molly?"

This was her final card. The one she thought was unbeatable.

"Molly is legally an Anderson," I said, the words tasting like ash. "She has you and your parents. I waive my rights to custody. You wanted me out of your lives. Now you have it."

Nicole' s face flooded with relief. Then Molly walked in, her eyes lighting up. "Pancakes!"

Nicole scooped her up. "Ethan's leaving, sweetie. He won't be making you pancakes anymore."

Molly looked at me, her expression untroubled. "Okay. Bye, Ethan."

She turned her attention back to her mother, already forgetting I was there. I looked at them one last time, a perfect portrait of a life I never truly belonged to. I turned and walked out the door without another word. The air outside felt clean for the first time in seven years.