Chapter 3 - THE DOOR WE WALKED THROUGH
I had never heard a silence as ugly as the one after David said “again.”
Robert snatched the belt from the table.
“Private family discipline isn't your business, Emily.”
“You made it my business when you told him to use it on me.”
My voice sounded steady.
Inside, my heart hammered so hard I could feel it beneath my collarbone.
David stepped toward his father.
“Give me the belt.”
For one second, I thought he was choosing me.
Then Robert said, “Remember the garage?”
David stopped dead.
Susan grabbed the back of a chair.
“Robert, please.”
He swung the leather toward the floor.
The crack sent David flinching like a little boy.
I finally understood why he lowered his voice every time his father called.
“David, we're leaving,” I said.
He looked at his mother.
Robert noticed.
“Walk out with her and your mother pays for it.”
Nobody spoke.
Nobody even pretended not to understand.
I took Susan's hand.
“You can come with us.”
She glanced at the doorway and whispered, “Not tonight.”
A man in the dining room lifted his phone to record.
Robert immediately straightened his jacket.
“Don't put that online,” he ordered.
The cousin answered, “Then maybe don't threaten people in front of twenty witnesses.”
Robert shoved past him and blocked the front door.
I didn't touch him.
I asked the cousin to call the police and kept my hands where everybody could see them.
Robert moved away only when sirens became audible outside.
David followed me to the car without looking back.
As I started the engine, he caught my wrist gently.
“There's something I should've told you before the wedding.”
My throat tightened.
“Then tell me now.”
He looked at the house where his mother stood alone behind the curtains.
May you like
“My father has done this before,” he said.
“And I helped him hide it.”
