Chapter 1 - PHOEBE STEPPED BETWEEN US
Phoebe ran between us before I could get off my knees.
She was five years old.
Barefoot on the marble floor.
Lavender floral dress wrinkled from hiding behind the staircase.
Both arms spread wide as if her tiny body could shield mine from a grown man.
Russell stood over us with a black leather belt hanging loosely at his side.
He had not used it.
Not yet.
But he had taken it from his closet slowly enough for me to understand what he wanted me to feel.
Fear.
“Your mother used you because she’s jealous of Gwendolyn!” he shouted.
Phoebe’s whole body trembled.
But she did not move.
“Mom didn’t do anything!”
I reached toward her.
“Phoebe, come here.”
She shook her head hard.
Behind Russell, Gwendolyn stood near the curved staircase in her rust-orange blouse and cream trousers.
My sister-in-law looked almost sad.
Almost.
That was her gift.
She could arrange her face into concern so perfectly that cruelty looked like patience.
Russell glared down at our daughter.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Phoebe flinched.
Then she pointed past him.
“I saw Aunt Gwendolyn go into the room!”
The mansion went silent.
For three days, Russell had accused me of breaking into his private office, removing files from his late mother’s estate cabinet, and using Phoebe as cover.
Gwendolyn said she had seen Phoebe outside the office door.
Russell decided I had sent our daughter there.
I denied it.
He did not believe me.
Now Phoebe had spoken.
Russell slowly turned toward his sister.
Gwendolyn’s smile faltered for less than a second.
Then she softened her eyes.
“Russell… she’s confused.”
That was when I finally stood.
Pain shot through my knees from the marble floor, but I pulled Phoebe behind me and held her there with one arm.
“No,” I said.
Russell looked back at me.
I heard my own voice become cold.
Certain.
“Then let’s watch what the security camera recorded.”
Gwendolyn’s face drained.
She stepped toward Russell before she could stop herself.
“No! You can’t watch that!”
Russell froze.
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For the first time since I married him, my husband looked at his sister as if he had never seen her clearly before.
And Phoebe’s small hand tightened around the back of my dress.
