Chapter 10 - THE PART MY HUSBAND PLAYED
“Tell me you didn't help him set me up,” I said.
David stared at the frozen image on Rachel's laptop.
The room smelled faintly of printer paper and stale coffee.
He seemed unable to breathe.
“Dad said he wanted proof of how you treated him,” he finally said.
“So you helped adjust the camera.”
“Yes.”
“Before he brought out the belt?”
David looked at his hands.
“Yes.”
I had expected betrayal from Robert.
Hearing it from the man who'd promised to love me felt like a door closing inside my chest.
“Did you know he planned to make you hit me?”
“No,” David said quickly.
“I thought he'd lecture you and post the video if you yelled.”
“You thought that was acceptable?”
His silence answered.
Rachel stopped the recording and told us both that the important thing was preserving evidence and telling the truth.
I appreciated her professionalism, because I couldn't find mine.
At home, David tried to explain that he had spent his life predicting his father's anger.
“Sometimes I agreed because I knew resisting made him worse.”
“I believe you,” I said.
He looked relieved until I continued.
“But you invited me into the trap.”
He began crying.
I packed a bag with enough clothes for a week.
“Where are you going?”
“To my mother's.”
“Are we over?”
“I don't know.”
He reached for my hand but stopped when I stepped back.
“You don't get to hold me while you're still choosing his version of the truth.”
At Linda's house, I turned off my phone for the first time since the wedding.
When I switched it on at dawn, I had twenty-three missed calls.
One was from my principal.
Another was from Rachel.
The last message came from Susan.
May you like
“Emily, Robert filed something against you.”
“He says you're dangerous, and he wants a judge to keep you away from the family.”
