Chapter 1 - Look Up
The metal handle struck the cabinet beside my head hard enough to make every glass inside rattle.
I stared at Diane Mercer.
My mother-in-law raised it again.
"Apologize," she said.
"For what?"
"For embarrassing my son."
Ryan stood six feet away near the kitchen island.
My husband.
My partner of seven years.
The man who had promised, in this very house, that no one would ever make me feel unsafe under our roof.
He watched his mother swing again.
I threw up my arm, caught the broom handle, and yanked.
Diane stumbled toward me. I pulled the handle free and shoved it away.
She lost her balance and landed against a dining chair.
Ryan finally moved.
He grabbed my arm.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
I slapped him.
Not hard enough to hurt him badly.
Hard enough to make him let go.
"You watched your mother attack your wife."
His face went red.
"You need to apologize to her."
I laughed.
I could not help it.
Something inside me had finally broken cleanly instead of bending again.
"No."
Diane stood, furious.
"Ryan, call someone. She's out of control."
I walked to the wall beside the pantry and pressed the red security button.
The alarm screamed through the house.
Ryan flinched.
"Sarah, shut that off."
I pointed above the kitchen door.
A black security camera stared down at all three of us.
"No."
Diane's face changed.
Ryan looked up.
He had forgotten about the camera.
So had she.
Thirty seconds later two private security officers rushed through the back entrance.
I put the metal handle on the floor and raised my empty hands.
"Do not touch me," I said. "Call the police."
Ryan stepped toward me.
"Sarah, please. Think about this."
"I am."
Diane pointed at her hip.
"She attacked me!"
I looked at the camera.
"Then the video will show that."
The room went quiet.
That was when I knew.
May you like
Neither of them was afraid of what had just happened.
They were afraid of what the camera had recorded before tonight.
