contrast to the warm glow inside. A neighbor, woken by my screams, had called the police. Tw

ff with anger. He spoke in a low, furio

nt me to handle this, to make this go away without a huge

I was hearing. "Mark, I was attacke

u have two choices. Apologize, and I'll tell the police it was a misunderstanding. Or don't, and yo

I was trapped. Swallowing the bitter taste of humiliation, I nodded stiffly. I walked past him, up the s

feeling like ash in my mouth. I co

t back outside to dismiss the police with a smooth, practi

where a large family portrait of me, Mark, and Ethan used to hang, there was now a new photo. It was of Mark, Ethan, and Sarah, all smiling brightly on a beach I'd never b

he divorce papers. That was the only reason I was here. I

t me, blocking my path to the table. She held out a glass of water. "Here, drink this. You poor thing." Her

estepping her. "I'm jus

door firmly behind him. He look

one devoid of any emotion except impatience. "I have to take Sarah t

d. "The emergency room? I'm

hing you clearly know ho

va would like a snack before she goes? I baked some cookies earlier." She bustled into

to me. "Here, have on

had it since I was a child. Mark knew this better than anyone. He was the one who rushed me to the hospital when I was twenty after accidentally eating

something, to remember. But he just look

offering you a cookie. Take it or d

a quiet, devastating blow. This man, who had once held my life in his hands an

I'll never let anything hurt you." The memory, once a source of comfort, now felt like a cruel joke. The man who made that promise was g

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