My dad sm;as;hed my tooth for refusing to give my salary to my sister. Mom laughed and said, “Parasites like you should learn to obey.” Dad laughed too and added, “Your sister earns happiness. You earn nothing.” Then their faces went pale.

My dad tried to speak, but only a choked, strangulated noise came out.

I stepped out of the shadows then.

I didn’t walk up to them. I didn’t make a scene. I just stood in their line of sight, near the exit.

My dad looked up, desperate for a lifeline, and his eyes locked onto mine.

I smiled. A wide, cold smile that showed the dark gap where my tooth used to be.

I raised my phone to my ear.

At that exact moment, across town, Melissa was standing at the velvet rope of the Vogue Nova party. I knew this because Trent had hacked the guest list system an hour ago. When she gave her name, the bouncer didn’t unhook the rope. He looked at his tablet, then at her.

“Entry denied,” he would be saying right now. “And we’ve been advised to confiscate any credentials. You’re flagged for credit fraud.”