Chapter 1 - PATHETIC LOSER
Jenna said it quietly at first, almost as though she wanted the insult to belong only to us.
“Pathetic loser.”
Then her fist drove into my left side.
The blow folded me over the kitchen counter. Its wooden edge caught my ribs while a grocery bag slid from my arm and struck the floor. A carton tipped sideways, and three eggs cracked beside my sneakers, their whites spreading slowly across the tile.
I tried to turn around.
She hit the same place again.
Pain traveled from my back into my stomach, hot and deep. My hands locked around the counter because I could not draw enough air to scream. Jenna stood behind me in an olive sweatshirt, breathing hard and telling me I was weak, dramatic, and lucky her family had tolerated me for as long as they had.
My husband, Matt, watched from the narrow doorway.
His father, Howard, stood behind him in a nearly identical plaid shirt, pointing at me as though I had caused the violence by refusing to cooperate. Linda, my mother-in-law, kept wiping an already clean counter beside the coffee maker.
Nobody moved toward me.
Jenna picked up an unbroken egg from the floor, turned it between her fingers, and smiled.
“This family only tolerates you out of pity.”
She threw it.
The shell broke against my cheek and slid down the front of my torn black shirt. I looked at Matt, silently asking the man I had married to stop his sister.
He avoided my eyes.
“Jenna’s right,” he murmured. “Don’t make this worse.”
Howard jabbed one finger toward me.
“Apologize before you ruin everything.”
Everything.
That was the word the family used when they meant the business, the house, their reputation, or any comfort they believed mattered more than my body.
My phone rested beside two coffee mugs.
I reached for it slowly.
Jenna saw the movement and stepped closer. “Who are you calling?”
I picked up the phone and hid it behind my back.
For the first time since the attack began, I straightened.
Pain pushed black spots into the edge of my vision, but I looked at all four of them.
“You picked the wrong person.”
Then I took my keys from the counter and walked out.
May you like
Nobody tried to stop me.
They still believed fear would bring me back.
