Chapter 1 - THE SECOND SWING
The metal broom handle hit the kitchen counter so hard the marble chipped.
I moved half a second before it would have hit my shoulder.
Diane Mercer stood three feet away from me, breathing hard, both hands wrapped around the silver handle like she had been waiting years for permission to use it. Her face was red. Her pearl earrings shook against her neck.
"You think you can disrespect me in my son's house?" she screamed.
I stared at her.
Then I looked past her at Ryan.
My husband was standing beside the refrigerator with his arms folded.
He wasn't shocked.
He wasn't moving toward me.
He wasn't calling the police.
He was watching.
"Ryan," I said, my voice low. "Tell her to put it down."
His jaw tightened. "Claire, stop making this worse."
Diane smiled.
"See?" she said. "Even he knows what kind of woman you are."
She raised the handle again.
This time, I didn't step back.
When she swung, I caught the metal shaft with both hands. Pain shot through my palms, but I held on. Diane gasped as I twisted it out of her grip and threw it across the kitchen floor.
It clanged beneath the breakfast table.
"Enough," I said.
Diane lunged anyway.
I shoved her away. She stumbled backward into a chair and fell against the table, knocking a bowl of fruit onto the floor.
Ryan moved then.
Not toward his mother.
Toward me.
He grabbed my arm so hard his fingers dug into my skin.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he snapped.
Something inside me went cold.
I turned and slapped him once across the face.
Ryan stared at me in disbelief.
I pulled my arm free.
"You watched your mother attack your wife."
His eyes darkened.
"Apologize to her. Right now."
I almost laughed.
Then I glanced above the kitchen door.
A tiny red light blinked from the security camera.
And suddenly, I remembered something both Ryan and Diane had forgotten.
May you like
The camera didn't record to this house.
It recorded somewhere they couldn't reach.
