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He didn’t even have any sympathy for my situation. He didn’t even care that my father was threatening to hurt my sister.
I hurt him too much for him to care.
I sit on the bench for a while, crying my eyes out. A homeless man walks by and asks me if I’m ok.
“Yes,” I say, sniffling and wiping at my eyes.
He’s dressed in dirty jeans and a long hoody, and he has kind eyes beneath his hood. In the cart he pushes, he has a lot of supplies, from extra clothes to a microwave. He pulls out a napkin from his pile and hands it to me.
I take it tentatively, but I don’t use it on my face. Who knows where it’s been? But I give him a smile of thanks anyway. He’s a kind man.
“We have to stick together,” he says, giving me a wink before walking off. It dawns on me he thinks I’m homeless.
I guess I am.
But there’s a home I can return to; though, it’s one I most definitely do not want to return to.
My father’s condo.
Would he even take me in? I’ll have to tell him the truth about Antonio. He’ll find out soon enough, and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of his wrath.
Even though it’s the last thing I want, I force myself to get up and head in the direction of my childhood home.
* * *
I don’t havemy key to get inside, so I have no choice but to knock.
It’s my father who answers. “Nina? What are you doing here?”
“I have nowhere else to go,” I say, sobbing. He lets me inside and shuts the door behind me, watching me with a calm expression. I know just how fast that calm expression can turn to anger.
“What do you mean? Did something happen with Antonio?”
“You mean, is he dead?” I wipe at my face. “No, he’s not. In fact, he knows the truth now. He knows you’re a traitor to him. And he knows the same about me.”
Father stares at me for a moment. I’m waiting for him to scold me when he slaps me across the face instead. The sudden sting makes me step back and gasp.
“He knows?” Father asks in a quiet voice.
“Yes.” I clutch my face. “He knows. So, you can kill me if you want to. It doesn’t matter now. Everything is ruined. My marriage is done.”
“Nina, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go.”
“I know!”
His lips twitch. “Then why did this happen?”
“Because I didn’t want to kill him! You were making me.”
“What’s going on?” Anna’s voice enters the conversation. She comes trudging down the hallway, wiping sleep from her eyes. “Why are you shouting? You woke me up.”
“Get back to bed,” I tell her, my heart constricting at the sight of my sister.
She huffs but stays rooted to her spot.
Father slowly approaches me, like a predator does to its prey. “You disobeyed me, Nina. You betrayed me.”
I scoff. “You betrayedme. You betrayed this whole family when you cheated on Mom.”
