Those four words made the decision for me.
“Yes.”
Daniel moved toward the doorway.
“Nobody’s leaving.”
I looked directly at him.
“Move.”
“This is my house.”
“And that is my daughter.”
“Our daughter.”
“Then start behaving like her father.”
Judith scoffed.
“Oh, please. You’ve spoiled that girl since birth.”
I turned toward her.
“She broke a glass.”
“And?”
“And Daniel decided terror was an appropriate response.”
Judith shrugged.
“She’ll remember not to do it again.”
That sentence told me everything.
They weren’t losing control.
They believed they were right.
That was worse.
I took Sophie’s hand.
Daniel stood in the doorway.
“You walk out now, don’t expect to come back.”
I stared at the man I had married nine years earlier.
Once, that threat would have terrified me.
That afternoon, it sounded like permission.
“Good.”
I pushed past him.
Sophie didn’t even put on her shoes.
