Chapter 1 - The Message Victor Didn’t See
Victor dragged me upright by one arm before slapping me back onto the marble floor.
“Beat her again, Victor—maybe the baby will finally teach her obedience!”
His mother, Helena, laughed from the cream-colored sofa.
I was six months pregnant, barefoot, and wearing the blue maternity gown I had slept in. Broken glass from Raul’s whiskey tumbler glittered beside my knees in the pale dawn light pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows of our Chicago high-rise.
Victor lifted a wooden decorative stick from beside the fireplace.
His father leaned forward as if watching television.
Nora, Victor’s younger sister, held her phone vertically and recorded.
“You think carrying my child makes you untouchable?” Victor said. “You’re still nothing in this house.”
I crawled toward my phone.
My left palm slid through spilled liquor. Victor thought I was reaching for help.
I was.
But not by calling 911.
Three nights earlier, my older brother Alex had made me memorize one rule.
If Victor ever took my keys or blocked a door again, I was to send Alex my location with a single period.
No explanation.
No argument.
Just a period.
I managed it before Victor crossed the room.
He smashed my phone against the wall, caught my hair, and forced my face upward.
“No one is coming for you—so learn your place and stay down.”
Helena crouched beside me.
“Let her cry. Watching her beg is the only fun she’s ever given this family.”
I stopped fighting because protecting my daughter mattered more than proving I could take another hit.
Then Nora’s phone buzzed.
Her smile disappeared.
Victor turned.
On her screen was a live location pin from Alex.
Beneath it were three words.
I’m outside.
The apartment door handle moved.
Victor froze.
I opened my eyes.
May you like
What frightened him was not that my brother had found me.
It was what Alex knew to bring with him.
