Chapter 8
When I didn’t move, she grabbed a crystal vase from the nightstand and hurled it at my head. I dodged, and it shattered against the wall
“What the fuck are you doing here?” she screamed, her voice raw. “Get out!”
“GET OUT! I said GET OUT! Just die somewhere and never come back!”
Her shouts dissolved into heaving sobs that shook her entire body.
Just then, Dad burst in, looking like he’d hurried here–his shirt misbuttoned.
But when he looked at Mom, I saw something unexpected: not concern, but thinly veiled anger.
He ordered all three of us out, practically shoving us through the doorway.
But I remembered that video–the one I’d caught a glimpse of the night I tried to escape, the evidence I needed to confirm my darkest suspicions.
I lingered by the door, peering through the crack.
SMACK!
The sound of an open palm connecting with flesh made me jump.
My father had slapped my mother across the face with enough force to snap her head sideways.
“You worthless bitch!” he snarled, his entire body trembling with rage. “Why couldn’t you protect my fucking child?!”
Mom held her reddened cheek, eyes burning with a hatred I’d never seen directed at him before.
This was new territory. In my memory, they’d always been the picture–perfect couple.
My mom’s defiant glare only enraged him further–his face darkened to a dangerous purple.
“Caroline,” he hissed through clenched teeth, “didn’t I explicitly tell you to protect this child?!”
“I’ve been way too goddamn lenient with you–now you cross the line?!”
Dad was visibly shaking with barely–contained fury while Mom stared back with cold, scornful indifference.
Her unrepentant posture pushed him over the edge. He lunged forward, wrapping his manicured fingers around her throat.
“You pathetic excuse for a woman! Since the baby’s gone, either you die with it, or you fucking give me another one!”
I could see his grip wasn’t tight enough to actually choke her–he just wanted to intimidate her into submission.
He really wanted that daughter. Desperately.
But Mom didn’t cave. Instead, she gathered what moisture remained in her mouth and spat directly into his face.
The saliva that landed on his perfectly clean–shaven cheek was streaked with crimson.
Her eyes flashed dangerously as she snarled through clenched teeth:
“Mitchell, you’re fucking delusional!”
“That fetus deserved to die! It should have died!”
The venom in her voice when cursing that unborn child mirrored exactly how she’d always spoken to me.
Something heavy settled in my chest, making each breath feel like drawing air through wet concrete.
13.0%
Chapter 8
Dad’s hand flew again, connecting with her face so hard she sprawled onto the floor. He pulled out a monogrammed handkerchief, disgustedly wiping her saliva from his face before delivering a vicious kick to her stomach.
“Pathetic bitch–you need to learn your place!”
Mom clutched her abdomen, letting out a hollow, chilling laugh.
“I’m pathetic? Look in the mirror! What kind of sick freak preys on his own daughters?! You’re not even human–you’re a goddamn monster!”
Dad’s pupils dilated violently, his breath catching in his throat. “What. Did. You. Just. Say?” Each word dropped like ice into the suddenly still room.
Struggling to her feet, Mom spat, “No. A monster would have shame. You? You’re just a depraved, twisted pedophile.”
Something in him snapped. Veins bulged at his temples, his eyes flooding bloodshot.
“YOU LYING WHORE–WHO TOLD YOU?!”
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