Chapter 4 - THE SECOND AND THIRD TIMES
I saved copies of the public records and sent myself notes through an account Mark did not know existed. I planned to take my laptop to Erin’s house, report the privacy breach to my employer, and speak to an attorney.
Diane caught me photographing one of Mark’s invoices.
The second incident happened in the sewing room.
She called me ungrateful, disloyal, and dangerous. She said a wife who destroyed her husband’s future deserved to lose the mouth she used to threaten him.
Afterward, Mark found me locked in the downstairs bathroom.
He cleaned my face.
He did not call for help.
“I told her she went too far,” he said.
I stared at him.
“Why does she know what I found?”
He did not answer.
The third time occurred after I tried to leave the house. Mark removed the keys from my purse and stood between me and the front door. Diane came down the stairs carrying her sewing basket.
I looked directly at my husband and asked him to stop her.
He said, “Just calm down and stop screaming.”
That sentence became permission.
Later, Mark brought me soup through a straw and told me his mother believed silence was the only thing that prevented me from making impulsive decisions.
“You let her do this.”
“I’m trying to keep everyone together.”
“No. You’re keeping me trapped.”
He began crying then. Mark often cried when the truth became too direct. His tears forced everyone else to comfort him before consequences arrived.
He promised it would never happen again.
The next morning, he took my phone to “reduce conflict” and changed the password on our bank account.
I began writing dates inside the hems of my clothing because Diane searched notebooks and drawers.
Three dates.
May you like
Three incidents.
Three times Mark knew enough to help me afterward but not enough, he claimed, to stop it beforehand.
