When the call connected, Brenda panicked.

She grabbed Megan's hand, and the ten of their fingers locked together.

On the other end, John Swanson's voice came through.【Hey, what's up? You taking care of the dog at home…】

He never got to finish. Brenda lunged forward and snatched the phone out of my hand.

【Johnny! My boy!】

She wailed into the phone the second it touched her ear.

【Your wife's bullying me! Come home and see for yourself, your mother can't take this anymore!】

I reached for the phone, but Megan shoved her pregnant belly in front of me, blocking the way.

She murmured at me, low.【Go on, step right over me if you've got the nerve. Come on!】

Brenda kept howling.【All I did was eat a little of her food, and she's pointing in my face calling me names!】

【You have no idea how vicious she got! She even said she'd throw me out of this house!】

【Johnny, your mother's an old woman now. I come stay with you a few days, and this is the kind of grief I have to put up with?】

She wailed and wiped at her eyes, the lies coming out so convincing it was a performance.

【She's got your sister so worked up she's passed out! Come home now, or your sister and the baby in her belly aren't going to make it!】

By then I was sobbing too hard to speak.

I could only rasp into the phone.【That's not true, she's lying, John, she's lying! Seven little lives, seven of them…】

Cotton's sweet little face kept flashing through my mind.

That round belly, the happy wag of her tail when she welcomed me home.

The pregnancy left her worn out, but every day she fought through the exhaustion to stay up with me while I worked late.

Cotton, I'm so sorry. I never imagined they'd do something like this.

I dropped to my knees on the floor in agony, tears splattering across the boards in an instant.

In one small wet patch, it was as though I could see Cotton's sweet face again.

But John wasn't listening to a word I said. He just blew up on the other end.【What?! Bullying my mom?】

【I left you home to take care of my mom and my sister, and you've got the nerve to bully them?】

【So they ate a little something, so what? Are you even human?】

【I'm telling you, in that house they eat whatever they want. You try stopping them and see what happens!】

Brenda and Megan exchanged a look, both of them grinning so wide they shook with it.

I took the phone Brenda handed back to me, the heart gone out of me.

It took me a long moment to steady myself before I spoke.【So that's, that's what you said. They eat whatever they want…】

The tears wouldn't stop, and no matter how my voice broke, my new husband felt nothing for me.

He spat the words out through his teeth.【That's right! I said it. That's my own mother, my own sister. What the hell are you?】

【If they want to eat bear paw today, you make them bear paw. You hear me?】

Oh. Okay. I hear you.

That $35,000 golden arowana coming home tonight, I'll cook that up for them too.

After hanging up, Brenda yanked open the fridge.

She bent down and rummaged through it, muttering.【Where's the bird's nest? That box her mother brought over the other day, where'd she put it?】

Megan waddled over with her belly and pointed at the top shelf.【Mom, up there. She hid it on the top.】

Brenda fished out the bird's nest, stacked jar by jar, six of them in all.

She carried them over to the coffee table and turned back to smile at Megan.【Your brother said it himself. In this house, the two of us eat whatever we want.】

And just like that, the pair of them settled comfortably onto the couch and polished off every last bit of the tonic my mother had sent me.

Halfway through eating, Megan suddenly laughed. "Mom, the way my brother chewed her out on the phone just now? I loved every second of it."

Brenda gave a satisfied grunt. "Your brother knows what's what. He knows exactly who his real mother and sister are."

"See? That's the beauty of having a son in your corner."

"You'd better pull your weight too. Pop out a big healthy boy, and your husband's family will treat you like a queen."

The bird's nest tonic gone, Brenda started rummaging again.

She yanked open the fridge, swept her eyes over the shelves, and let out a sudden cry of delight. "Ooh, what's this?"

She pulled a golden durian out of the bottom drawer, turned, and waved it at Megan. "Look at this. She was hiding it in here."

Megan's eyes lit up. "Durian! I love this stuff!"

I'd bought it on my way home from work, the flesh a deep golden yellow, plump in fat little segments.

The two of them didn't hold back, picking it clean.

Not a single bite left for me.

But right then, I had no appetite for anything.

The smell of that stewed meat still hung in the room, refusing to clear out.

I threw open every window, hoping Cotton's spirit could escape faster.

The kitchen floor was covered in her soft white fur.

Such a sweet little Coton de Tulear. She was always lifting that round little face to look at me.

Her small tail used to sweep back and forth across the floor, stirring up little clouds of dust.

It never took long for that pretty little tail to get dirty.

Every time, I'd tap her on the nose and say, "Greedy little thing. Let me peel you an egg."

And now, the life seemed to have drifted out of that pile of white fur, right along with its owner's spirit.

All the old shine was gone, the fur dry and tangled, heaped into a dull little mound.

My legs gave out and I dropped to my knees on the floor, gathering the fur up in my arms.

As if doing that could bring Cotton back, bring back the six unborn little lives in her belly.

Ding-dong. The doorbell rang.

"Anyone home? We're here with the fish delivery, scheduled for eight tonight. Mind opening up?"

I opened the door and directed the workers to set the tank under the spotlights in the living room.

The tank was wrapped tight in thick cardboard.

The workers peeled the cardboard away, and the instant the spotlights hit the water, Brenda and Megan both froze at the sight.

"What is that thing?" Brenda asked.

I didn't bother answering. I paid the workers and saw them out.

Light fell across the fish's back as it drifted lazily through the water, its body well over half a meter long.

The living room was dead quiet, just the faint trickle of water from the tank's filter.

I found myself staring, transfixed, at the fish in front of me.

John had told me it was called an Emperor Green-Skin Chili-Red arowana.

Against the green base, the gold-red and silver blended into a gradient, glinting with a dazzling light. It was breathtaking.

But something shuddered inside me.

I couldn't help thinking, what kind of awful person would look at a creature this beautiful and want to taste it?

I thought of Cotton.

Cotton had been just as beautiful. That round little face, those pitch-black eyes, the way she ran like a ball of cloud rolling across the ground.

It was them. I cut a hard glare sideways at Brenda and Megan.

A low murmur reached my ears.

"Mom..."

Megan kept her voice down.

"I didn't get enough to eat tonight."

Brenda didn't say anything, but she licked her lips.

Megan leaned in closer. "Hey, you think that fish has a belly full of soft little fry, same as the dog did?"

The blood in my body froze solid.

"If it really does... oh, Mom, I'm hungry!"

Megan whined, impatient.

Brenda gave her hand a little squeeze. "Keep it down. Mom hears you. I'll figure something out right away."

The corners of Megan's mouth slowly spread into a grin, her eyes flooding with greed.

Just then my phone rang. It was John.

"Hey, the fish get there? Any fish food? Feed it a tiny bit and see how it does."

I answered in a low voice. "There's no fish food. I'll go out and buy some in a bit."

John pushed at me, irritated. "Hurry up, then. Any later and the stores'll be closed."

"I'm telling you, you'd better take good care of that fish. Bryan borrowed loan-shark money behind his wife's back to buy it."

"The contract with the hotel owner's already signed. I get a twenty-thousand cut, and Bryan clears sixty thousand on the middle."

"If we screw this up, we owe the hotel owner five times the penalty! It's only at our place for three days, so be careful!"

I kept my voice quiet. "Okay, got it. Pull up the home security camera feed and keep an eye on the fish, so nothing goes wrong and gets pinned on us."

"I'm heading out for the fish food right now. You just watch it for half an hour."

Hmph. Half an hour. More than enough time for those two to deal with the fish.