Chapter 4
At the hospital, the X-ray confirmed a fracture.
A clean break near the shin.
Clean.
That word felt insulting.
Nothing about it was clean.
A doctor documented bruising on my arm from Ryan grabbing me earlier that week.
I had forgotten about it until she asked.
That frightened me.
How many things had I renamed as normal?
Dad stayed beside me while they set my leg.
Ryan tried calling.
I did not answer.
Diane tried once.
Dad blocked her number himself.
Then a woman came into my hospital room.
She was thin.
Dark-haired.
A scar cut through one eyebrow.
She leaned on a cane.
Dad stood.
“Laura.”
My body went still.
Ryan’s first wife.
The woman he said had destroyed him.
Laura looked at my cast.
Then at my face.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
I started crying.
Not because she had done anything.
Because she understood without asking.
She sat slowly.
“Diane did this?”
I nodded.
“Rolling pin.”
Laura closed her eyes.
“She likes kitchen weapons. Makes it easier to call it an accident.”
My stomach turned.
Dad’s jaw tightened.
Laura looked at me.
“Did Ryan defend her?”
I could not speak.
She nodded sadly.
“He always does at first.”
“At first?”
“Then he cries. Then he says he didn’t know. Then he asks you not to ruin the family.”
The exact words Ryan had already almost said.
I whispered, “Why didn’t anyone believe you?”
Laura’s eyes filled.
“Because Diane told them I was unstable before she ever touched me.”
Dad placed a second folder on my blanket.
“Emily, there’s more. Diane didn’t just hurt Laura.”
Laura looked at him.
“You found the money?”
Dad nodded.
I stared between them.
“What money?”
May you like
Laura’s voice was quiet.
“The settlement Ryan’s family stole from me after I was injured.”
