Chapter 2
The phone kept ringing.
Each ring felt like a hammer hitting my chest.
Michael dove for it like his life depended on it.
But I was faster.
I snatched it up before he could reach it.
“Give that back,” he said, his voice cracking.
I answered.
Put it on speaker.
“Michael?” Sarah’s voice came through, sweet and soft. “Are you still coming over tonight? I made your favorite.”
The dining room went dead silent.
I stared at my husband.
“Michael?” Sarah tried again. “Baby, are you there?”
I hung up.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The room started spinning.
My sister.
My own sister.
Every Thursday night.
Michael said he had late meetings.
Said he had to work on big projects.
Said it was the only way to get ahead.
And Sarah?
She said she was busy with her own life.
Couldn’t make it to family dinners.
Always had something else to do.
They were together.
This whole time.
“Is it true?” My voice barely sounded like my own.
Michael’s hands were shaking.
“Let’s go home and talk about this. Please.”
“Is it true?” I screamed the words this time.
He flinched.
Diane stood there, watching with a twisted kind of satisfaction.
“Of course it’s true,” she said. “They’ve been at it for years.”
I looked at Emma.
She was crying now, her little face crumpled in confusion.
I went to her, knelt down, wrapped my arms around her.
“It’s okay, baby. Mommy’s here.”
“Is Daddy in trouble?” she whispered.
I didn’t know how to answer that.
I stood up, holding Emma’s hand.
“We’re leaving.”
Michael stepped in front of me.
“Wait. Let me explain.”
“Move.”
“Please, just listen—”
I pushed past him.
Hard.
He stumbled back.
I walked out of that house with my head held high, even though my heart was breaking into a million pieces.
Emma squeezed my hand tight as we walked to the car.
“Mommy, why was Grandma yelling?”
I buckled her into her seat.
“Sometimes grown-ups say things they shouldn’t.”
“Are you and Daddy going to get a divorce?”
Her question stopped me cold.
I looked into her innocent eyes.
And I didn’t have an answer.
Not yet.
“We’ll talk about it later, okay? Right now, we just need to go somewhere safe.”
I got in the driver’s seat and pulled away from the curb.
In the rearview mirror, I saw Michael standing on the porch.
He didn’t come after us.
He just stood there.
Watching us leave.
I drove for a while, not knowing where to go.
I couldn’t go to my parents’ house. Not yet.
I couldn’t face Sarah.
I had nowhere.
Then I thought of my friend Lisa.
She’d been my best friend since college.
The only person who’d ever warned me about Michael.
I called her.
She answered on the first ring.
“Hey, how was—”
“Lisa, can Emma and I come over? Please.”
My voice must have told her everything.
“Of course. I’ll leave the door unlocked. Drive safe.”
Ten minutes later, I pulled into her driveway.
Lisa was waiting on the porch, wrapped in a robe.
She didn’t ask questions.
She just pulled me into a hug.
And that’s when I broke.
I cried harder than I’d ever cried in my life.
Lisa led us inside, made Emma hot chocolate, put on a cartoon for her.
Then she sat me down at her kitchen table.
“Tell me everything.”
And I did.
I told her about the slap.
About Diane’s words.
About the phone call.
About Sarah.
Lisa’s face got darker and darker as I spoke.
When I finished, she reached across the table and took my hand.
“I’m so sorry. I tried to warn you about him. About all of them.”
She was right.
She’d tried.
But I’d been in love.
Blind.
Stupid.
“What do I do now?” I whispered.
May you like
Lisa looked me in the eye.
“First, you breathe. Then you get a lawyer. And then you make them pay for what they’ve done to you.”
