Page 349 of A Vicious Love

Talk.

So they had planned that too. A gentle talk after the drive. Another room where everyone knew what my life was before I arrived.

I nodded and walked upstairs.

No one followed.

Maybe they were cowards. They thought waiting would be kinder.

My room looked exactly as I had left it.

I closed the door.

Locked it.

Then I broke.

It happened silently at first. One hand over my mouth. Phone clutched in the other. I opened the document again because some destroyed part of me needed to make sure I had read it right. The token ring on my finger blurred until the diamond became only light. I pulled at it once, too hard. It caught at my knuckle.

A sob broke out of my chest.

I sank onto the floor beside the bed, knees drawn up, one hand pressed over my mouth so no one outside could hear. I thought of his hands on me. His voice. Baby. Daddy’s home. My wife. My house tonight.

Had he practiced cruelty until it sounded like love?

My phone began vibrating.

Jamison.

I watched his name appear.

Then disappear.

Then appear again.

I did not answer.

Messages followed.

Jamison: You resting?

Jamison: Baby?

Jamison: Answer me.

Jamison: Sienna.

Another call.

I turned the phone face down on the carpet.

The sky outside shifted from gold to blue to deep Harlan black. At some point someone knocked gently.

“Sienna?” my mother called.

I wiped my face and did not answer.

“Sienna, darling, dinner is at seven. Mr. Crow⁠—”