Chapter 1
My mother-in-law locked me inside the dog kennel and said, “Maybe a night out here will teach you who owns this house.”
I had been living with my husband, Ethan, at his mother Diane’s home outside Atlanta for only two weeks.
Our apartment had flooded, and Ethan promised it was temporary.
Diane never wanted me there.
Every morning, she found something to criticize.
“You used too much coffee.”
“You left fingerprints on my refrigerator.”
“You’re living here for free, Emily. Remember that.”
I kept quiet because Ethan was working long shifts and I didn’t want another fight.
Then one afternoon, Diane accused me of losing her diamond bracelet.
“I never touched it.”
She stepped closer.
“Things never disappeared before you moved in.”
“Are you calling me a thief?”
“I’m saying girls from families like yours learn to survive somehow.”
My hands started shaking.
“Don’t talk about my family.”
Diane grabbed my wrist.
“You don’t give orders in my house.”
I pulled away.
That was when she slapped me.
I immediately reached for my phone.
“I’m calling Ethan.”
Diane snatched it from my hand.
“No, you’re not.”
Then she pushed open the back door.
“Get outside.”
I refused.
She grabbed my arm and dragged me across the patio toward the large kennel where she kept her two dogs during the day.
“Diane, stop!”
She opened the metal gate and shoved me inside.
Before I could get back out, she slammed it shut and locked the padlock.
I stared at her through the bars.
“You can’t do this.”
She smiled.
“Watch me.”
The temperature was dropping, and I was wearing only a thin sweater.
I shouted for help until my throat hurt.
Diane went back inside and closed the curtains.
Almost an hour later, I heard a car pull into the driveway.
I thought Ethan had come home.
Instead, our twelve-year-old son, Noah, appeared around the side of the house after getting dropped off from school.
He froze when he saw me inside the kennel.
“Mom?”
“Noah, don’t come closer. Go get help.”
His face changed when he noticed the bruise forming on my cheek.
“Grandma did this?”
Before I could answer, Diane stepped onto the patio.
“Noah, get inside.”
He didn’t move.
She shouted again.
“I said get inside!”
Noah slowly pulled his phone from his backpack.
Diane started walking toward him.
May you like
Then he said one sentence that made her stop.
“Dad told me to record everything Grandma does when he’s gone.”
