After I got pregnant, Reese Flynn, my husband's younger brother, racked up a million dollars in gambling debts to loan sharks.

My mother-in-law, Kaylee Larsen, set her sights on my parent's house, pressuring me to sell it and pay off Reese's debt.

I refused. "That's the last thing my parents left me."

My in-laws and Reese charged at me, hitting and kicking me.

Lizeth Flynn, my sister-in-law, stood there with her hands on her hips, threatening, "You're the only one left in your family. If you dare defy us, we'll kill you!"

Meanwhile, my husband Cedric Flynn mocked me from the side, "If you don't help my brother, then you don't see us as family."

I laughed, "Alright, go ahead and take the house if you've got the nerve to."

***

I was two months pregnant, and today my stomach was feeling off. I was just about to ask my boss for some time off to go to the hospital.

Then my husband called.

"Violet, my brother's in trouble. Come home right away."

I frowned, asking, "What happened? Honey, my stomach feels tight and uncomfortable. Could you come with me to the hospital first?"

On the phone, my husband replied impatiently, "It's a minor issue. No need to check it out. My brother's situation is serious. I'll come pick you up now. Just wait for me downstairs your company."

Then he hung up.

I pushed through the discomfort and went home with my husband.

The moment I walked in.

I saw a crowd of relatives gathered in our living room.

Kaylee and Lizeth were sobbing on the couch, while my father-in-law Glenn Flynn sat off to the side, sighing heavily.

Reese knelt in front of Kaylee, slapping himself repeatedly.

I walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

Kaylee shot me an angry look. "What's going on? You tell me! Reese is in deep trouble, and you, as his sister-in-law, were the last to show up, acting like it's none of your business."

Before we got married, Kaylee used to be all smiles and kindness toward me. But after the wedding, she changed, scolding me frequently. I always chalked it up to her age and didn't let it bother me.

I looked at my husband. "Cedric, tell me."

My husband pursed his lips, looking a little down. "My brother got hooked on some shady online gambling and lost over a million dollars. He owes it all to loan sharks, and now they've come to collect. If he doesn't pay, they'll kill him."

I got angry right away, "Six months ago, he fell for a scam and lost 300 thousand dollars, and your parents barely managed to bail him out. How is he gambling again?"

Reese had always been trouble, constantly getting into messes that the family had to clean up.

When that scam happened six months ago, I wasn't even married to Cedric yet. I had already warned my husband then that they couldn't keep enabling Reese, but he wouldn't listen.

I never imagined Reese would make an even bigger mess this time.

The last time, his parents had to empty their life savings to cover that 300 thousand dollars. Now he owed one million dollars. How were they going to pay that?

I looked sympathetically at Kaylee, saying, "Kaylee, if worse comes to worst, just let Reese hide from them for a while. If the loan sharks can't find him, maybe they'll just let him go. Then Reese can get a job somewhere, start earning, and gradually pay it back. It might not be easy, but it's doable."

I thought this was the best solution. Reese was still young, and he was skilled at welding. I had heard he could make over 10 thousand dollars a month. With that kind of income, he could pay off the debt in seven or eight years.

But as soon as Kaylee heard this, she blew up, pointing her finger at me and yelling.

"Violet Benson, you're so heartless! You want my son to go into hiding? Living on the run? Is that even a life?"

Lizeth immediately stood up. "Lizeth, you make it sound easy. Paying it off slowly? That's loan shark debt! The interest compounds fast. If he doesn't pay it back right away, in a few years, it'll be millions of dollars! And my brother's never left home and never had to rough it. How can we let him go off to some strange place? We'd never be at ease!"

The way they were both yelling at me, you'd think I was the one who had gambled and gotten into debt, not Reese.

I threw up my hands. "Well then, what's your solution?"

It was like they'd been waiting for me to ask. Everyone's eyes suddenly lit up and they all stared at me like a pack of wolves.

I turned to my husband, and he was giving me the same look.

My heart sank.

In truth, it wasn't just Kaylee who had changed after I married into the family. My husband had too, but I'd been too easygoing to sweat the small stuff.

Kaylee immediately softened her tone, walking over with a smile and patting my shoulder. "Violet, you've got that house, don't you? It's worth a little over a million dollars. If you sell it, it'll be just enough to pay off the debt. We're family, and when there's trouble, we'll help each other, right?"

She said it all in one breath as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I refused immediately.

"That house is the only thing my parents left me, and I'm not selling it. Besides, where would Cedric and I live if I sold it? I'm pregnant, and the baby's due in just a few months! You can't expect us to rent, can you?"

Cedric's parents hadn't even bothered to help us with a house when we got married. I married Cedric because he was honest and faithful, not the kind to fool around, so I didn't mind the lack of a house.

We'd been living in my parent's house ever since.

However, who could've known that not only would my in-laws be so ungrateful, but they would now want to use my family's house to patch up the mess Reese had made?

How shameless!