Chapter 2
The words hung in the air.
Evelyn's smile froze on her face.
"What are you talking about?" she said, her voice sharp. "This house is mine. We bought it together."
Robert didn't look at her. His eyes were on me, full of something I hadn't seen in a long time.
Pity. And anger.
"Check the deed, Evelyn," he said calmly. He tossed the document onto the table. It slid across the polished wood and stopped in front of her.
She snatched it up. Her eyes scanned the page quickly.
Her face went pale.
"What is this?" she whispered. "This isn't right."
"I had the property transferred into my sole name three years ago," Robert said. "After the first time I saw you hit her."
My breath caught in my throat.
He knew.
He'd known for three years.
"You did what?" Evelyn's voice rose to a shriek. "You had no right!"
"I had every right," Robert said, his voice steady. "I paid for this house. Every brick, every nail. And I wasn't going to let you use it as a weapon against someone who didn't deserve it."
Daniel stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.
"Dad, what's going on? You can't be serious."
Robert finally looked at his son. His eyes were hard.
"Dead serious. This house belongs to me. And I decide who stays and who goes."
Evelyn slammed the document down. Her hands were shaking.
"You're choosing her over your own family?"
"I'm choosing what's right," Robert said. "And what's right is that Emily has been treated like a servant in this house for two years. Slapped. Burned. Humiliated in front of everyone. And you," he pointed at Daniel, "you sat there and let it happen."
Daniel's face flushed. "She's my wife—"
"Your wife?" Robert's voice rose. "You call that being a husband? You watched your mother slap her, burn her, and you told her not to make a big deal out of it?"
He turned back to Evelyn.
"You want someone to leave? Fine."
He pointed toward the front door.
"Get out."
The room erupted.
Evelyn screamed. Daniel's brother stood up, shouting. His sister started crying.
"You can't do this!" Evelyn shrieked. "This is my home!"
"Not anymore," Robert said. "I want you packed and gone by morning. And if you ever lay a hand on Emily again, I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life."
He turned to me. His expression softened.
"Emily, come with me. We need to get that hand looked at."
I stood frozen, my burned hand still pressed to my chest. I couldn't believe what was happening.
For two years, I'd endured Evelyn's cruelty. For two years, Daniel had done nothing. For two years, I'd felt completely alone.
And now Robert was standing up for me.
"Emily," he said gently, holding out his hand.
I looked at Daniel. He was staring at his father, his face a mix of shock and anger. He didn't look at me.
I took a step toward Robert.
Then another.
I placed my unburned hand in his.
He led me out of the dining room, away from the shouting, away from the laughter that still echoed in my ears.
He took me to the kitchen, where he turned on the cold water and gently guided my hand under the stream.
The cool water felt like heaven against my burning skin.
"I'm so sorry, Emily," Robert said quietly. "I should have done this sooner."
Tears finally spilled from my eyes. I'd held them back through the slap, through the burn, through the laughter. But now they came, hot and fast.
"Why didn't you?" I whispered.
He sighed. He grabbed a clean towel and gently patted my hand dry.
"Because I was a coward," he said. "I thought if I stayed out of it, things would get better. I thought Daniel would step up. I was wrong."
He opened a cabinet and pulled out a first-aid kit.
"I've been gathering evidence for months," he said, carefully applying burn cream to my blisters. "Photographs. Witness statements from the staff who've seen what she does. Bank records showing she's been siphoning money from the family accounts."
He wrapped my hand in clean gauze.
"I wasn't just going to kick her out. I was going to make sure she could never hurt anyone again."
He looked me in the eye.
"And I was going to make sure you were taken care of. No matter what."
From the other room, we could hear Evelyn screaming. She was throwing things now. Daniel was shouting back at her.
Robert stood up.
"Stay here," he said. "I'll handle this."
He walked back toward the dining room.
I stood alone in the kitchen, my hand wrapped in bandages, my wedding ring abandoned on the dining table.
May you like
For the first time in two years, I felt something I'd almost forgotten.
Hope.
