CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 3
Margaret’s sweet smile disappeared first.
“Sit down, Ava.”
The way she said my name made my skin go cold.
“I’m leaving,” I said.
Ethan moved faster than I had ever seen him move.
He crossed the room, reached the front door before me, and locked the deadbolt.
Click.
The sound was small.
The meaning was enormous.
My hand went instantly to my stomach.
“Ethan,” I whispered. “Open the door.”
He did not.
Margaret walked toward me slowly, her cream suit perfect, her silver hair pinned neatly behind her ears.
“Give me your ATM card,” she said.
I stared at her. “What?”
“And your PIN.”
For a moment, my mind refused to understand.
Then it landed.
They had stopped pretending.
“If you won’t pay willingly,” Margaret said, “we’ll withdraw the money ourselves.”
I looked at Ethan, waiting for shame, hesitation, anything human.
He only said, “You pushed us to this.”
I almost laughed.
“I pushed you?”
“You keep acting like you’re better than us because you have money.”
“No,” I said. “I acted like an adult who knows when to stop spending.”
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
Then she stepped forward and shoved me into the wall.
It was quick, ugly, and shocking.
Not enough to make me fall, but enough to knock the air from my lungs and send pain up my back.
My hands flew over my stomach.
My baby.
For one second, fear swallowed everything.
Then Margaret leaned close and whispered, “Without my son, you’re just a pregnant woman with nowhere to go.”
May you like
That was when I raised my foot under the side table and pressed the panic button.
And that was when I stopped being afraid of losing Ethan.
