Page 59 of Her Ex-Husband's Brother

“No grounds for action,” he says. He holds my gaze for a moment that is not comfortable. “The property theft claim is a civil matter.”

I breathe out.

“The domestic disturbance call goes on record regardless,” he says. “It’s procedure. I just wanted to let you know.”

There it is.

“I understand,” I say.

I watch Jake receive his verdict from the other two officers. I see the recalculation happening. Jake in real time understanding that the cameras and Rosa and the witnesses combined into something he couldn’t fully control tonight.

But the record still exists.

He looks at me across the plaza.

And smiles.

Because in spite of everything, he got what he came for.

The domestic disturbance call exists in the record, along with all of Jake’s accusations, inked and official.

To be weaponized against me again at a future date.

There never was going to be a peaceful path to leaving him, was there?

He was only ever a “kind, good guy” to me when I let him be in complete control and played the part he wrote for me.

For the first time, I’m meeting the man I’ve been married to for nine years, face to face at last.

Unmasked.

FIFTEEN

AUGUST

I feeloutside of my body watching everything happening like I’m very, very far away.

It flashes by like panels in a comic book.

The badass female lead stands against evil with a fiery aura around her, having put a spell of protection around the August that’s been sapped of power like kryptonite does to Superman, disabled and frozen.

But when she’s around, no one can touch him. No one can take him away to the Phantom Zone.

It made the shell-August feel safe enough to open his mouth and answer the questions that were put to him.

But I still feel separate from the him that feels a thousand miles away on the screen in front of me.

Which is when I land on the name Dr. Delaney gave me for this sensation:dissociation.

Shit. Okay.

I have tools and steps to take when this happens.

I’ve named it, which is the first step.

Great. Now what?

Now I have to jump back in my body in the picture. Fuck, but how do I do that?