CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
The argument moved from the kitchen to the living room because Patricia hated conflict near the marble counters.
Even cruelty had rooms in that house where it was considered inappropriate.
Ryan paced in front of the fireplace, blaming stress, blaming loneliness, blaming Emily’s “coldness,” blaming everything except the choice he had made with another woman in their bed.
Emily stood near the sofa, arms wrapped around herself.
“You promised me it would stop,” she said.
The room went still.
Ryan’s eyes flashed.
Patricia turned sharply.
Richard’s face darkened.
That was the moment they realized Emily was not only talking about the affair.
Ryan stepped closer.
“What did you just say?”
Emily’s throat tightened, but she did not take it back.
“I said you promised it would stop.”
Patricia’s voice dropped into something poisonous.
“You ungrateful girl.”
Emily looked at her.
“I came to you last year. I showed you what he did.”
Patricia’s nostrils flared.
“And I told you marriage requires discipline.”
Richard stepped forward. “Careful, Emily.”
“No,” she whispered. “I have been careful for three years.”
Ryan grabbed the edge of the sofa beside her so hard the wooden frame creaked.
Emily flinched.
Not because he touched her.
Because her body remembered him before her mind could argue.
Patricia watched without guilt.
Richard adjusted his cuff like he was waiting for an unpleasant meeting to end.
May you like
And then Patricia said the sentence Emily knew she would hear in her sleep forever.
“Teach her where she belongs.”
