Chapter 1 - The Blow
The sound was dry, wet, and atrocious.
Rebecca didn't feel the pain immediately. She felt her body spin. She felt the warm weight of Emma shift against her chest. She felt one of her knees hit the carpet, right next to the light blue sofa.
Then, something small and white fell near Emma's sock.
A piece of tooth.
Emma started to scream.
Rebecca's hand flew to her mouth. Her tongue brushed against a sharp, jagged edge where, an instant before, her front tooth had been. Blood spread across her palm and dripped onto the white maternity shirt she had bought on sale the week before.
Trevor had complained about that purchase. He said she didn't need new clothes. He said she was getting fat anyway.
Now he stood over her, his open hand still raised, his face shadowed by a mix of rage and bewilderment, as if he were the victim in that room.
"Look what you made me do."
Rebecca looked up at him.
She was twenty-five weeks pregnant. She kept one arm wrapped around Emma, who was eighteen months old and sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. Rebecca's other hand covered her abdomen.
The baby kicked. Hard. That movement snapped her back to reality.
Trevor paced back and forth in front of them, running both hands through his hair. He wore the navy blue pants and white shirt he had worn to work, but he no longer wore a tie, and the top buttons were undone.
"You wouldn't stop," he said. "I asked you for one thing. To keep Emma quiet while I finished the call."
Emma had wanted a cookie before dinner. Rebecca had said no. Emma cried.
Trevor had stormed out of his office accusing Rebecca of deliberately humiliating him in front of a client. Rebecca told him Emma was a toddler, not an employee. He told her she was useless. She asked him not to speak that way in front of their daughter.
And then his hand crossed her face.
Rebecca should have been angry. Yet her first thought was one of relief. Thank goodness the neighbors are too far away to hear.
Even bleeding, she was still protecting him.
Emma touched Rebecca's cheek with her two tiny hands. "Mama. Mama."
"Shh, my love," Rebecca whispered through the blood. "Mama is still here."
The words came out thick.
Trevor stopped pacing. He looked at the blood on Rebecca's shirt and then at the fragment of tooth on the carpet. Something resembling fear crossed his face, but it wasn't fear for her. It was fear of the consequences.
"You need to clean that up."
Rebecca glanced toward her phone, which was near the sofa. Trevor noticed.
"Don't even think about it."
She slowly slid a hand over the carpet.
Three heavy knocks echoed on the front door. Trevor froze. Rebecca's heart stopped with him.
A man's voice called from outside. "Rebecca, open the door. It's Dad."
Richard.
Trevor spun toward her. His expression changed so fast it looked like another man's face. The rage vanished. His mouth softened. His shoulders dropped. He became the charming son-in-law who laughed at Richard's jokes and asked him interested questions about the stock market.
Then he saw Rebecca's blood again. The panic returned. He rushed across the room and crouched beside her. His fingers locked around her wrist before she could reach for her phone.
"Tell him you're fine."
Emma cried against Rebecca's shoulder. Trevor tightened his grip. "He can't see you like this."
Rebecca looked toward the door.
That morning, while Trevor was at work, she had called Richard from the parking lot of her OB-GYN's office. She almost hung up when he answered. Instead, she asked him to come over at seven. She said she needed to talk. Richard asked if she and Emma were safe. Rebecca lied. "Yes."
He caught the lie. "I'll be there at six-thirty," he had said.
Trevor knew nothing about the call. He thought Richard had shown up unannounced.
Rebecca had planned to tell her father about the bank accounts, the threats, and the way Trevor checked her phone while she slept. She hadn't planned to tell him about physical violence because, up until thirty seconds ago, she still described Trevor as a man who had never hit her.
He had shoved her. He had blocked doors. He had punched a cabinet next to her head. He had driven too fast while she begged him to slow down. But he had never hit her.
That distinction now lay broken on the carpet.
"Rebecca," Richard called. "Open the door."
Trevor leaned in close enough for her to smell the coffee on his breath. "If you destroy this family, it will be your fault."
Rebecca yanked her wrist free. She stood up just enough to reach the deadbolt, holding Emma against her chest and avoiding putting weight on her trembling legs.
Trevor whispered, "Think carefully about what you're going to do."
Rebecca turned the lock. The door swung open.
Richard stood outside in a dark suit, his gray hair illuminated by the porch light. Behind him, a black sedan idled at the curb with a driver inside.
Richard's eyes flicked from Rebecca's split lip to the blood on her shirt. Then he saw Emma. Then Trevor.
Rebecca had three seconds to protect her marriage or protect her children.
"Dad," she said. "Help us."
Richard walked in. He didn't hit Trevor. He didn't yell. He stepped between Trevor and Rebecca, pulled out his phone, and dialed 911.
Trevor's face crumbled. "This isn't what it looks like."
Richard looked at the piece of tooth on the carpet. "It looks like my daughter needs an ambulance."
"It was an accident."
Behind Richard, Rebecca began to shake so violently that Emma slipped against her shoulder. Richard turned halfway, never taking his eyes off Trevor.
"Sit down, Rebecca."
"I can't."
"You can. I'm here."
Those words should have comforted her. Instead, they reminded her of how long she had been waiting for someone to tell her what she was allowed to do.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Trevor looked toward the back hallway. Richard noticed.
"Don't move."
"You don't boss me around."
"No," Richard said. "But the police will want to talk to you."
Trevor's eyes locked onto Rebecca. The hatred in them was now silent. "You called him before this happened."
Rebecca said nothing. Trevor understood anyway. "You planned it."
May you like
The first patrol car turned into the driveway. Trevor smiled without any warmth. Then he said the sentence that would haunt Rebecca in every courtroom from that moment on.
"Tell them why your father was already on his way."
