Chapter 4
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
Evelyn smiled at them.
She actually smiled.
“My daughter-in-law had an episode,” she said. “We were trying to calm her.”
I lifted my chin.
“My lip is bleeding. My knees are scraped. She dragged me by my hair in front of witnesses.”
The officer looked around.
Nobody spoke.
Not one cousin.
Not one aunt.
Not Daniel.
Robert stood.
“I witnessed the end of the assault. My wife struck her.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You coward.”
“No,” he said quietly. “I have been a coward. This is me stopping.”
Henry raised his cane.
“I saw enough too.”
Then Daniel’s sister, Clara, started sobbing.
“She hit Emily. Mom hit her. Daniel didn’t help.”
Evelyn turned on her.
“Traitor.”
Clara flinched.
I suddenly wondered how many people in that family had been trained with fear.
Police photographed my injuries.
They took my statement.
Then I played the recording.
The officer’s face changed when Evelyn mentioned forged trust documents.
“This may involve financial crimes,” he said.
Robert nodded.
“It does.”
Evelyn was not arrested that night.
Not yet.
But she was ordered to leave the house.
She refused.
Then Robert said, “The house is in my name.”
She laughed.
“No, Robert. Everything is ours.”
He looked at her.
“Not anymore.”
Daniel tried to approach me as I packed a small bag.
“Emily, please.”
I kept folding clothes.
“Please what?”
“Don’t destroy the family.”
I turned.
“You watched your mother destroy me.”
He swallowed.
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
His eyes filled.
“I love you.”
May you like
I looked at the man who had stood still while I screamed.
“No,” I said. “You loved having me quiet.”
