Chapter 2: Early Return
Then the front door slammed open.
“What did you just do?”
Margaret froze.
Ryan stood in the doorway with his suitcase still in his hand.
He had returned from Chicago early without telling either of us.
His eyes went from my shaking hands to the iron on the floor.
Then he saw me protecting my stomach.
“Emily?”
I could barely speak.
“She put that against me.”
Margaret immediately shook her head.
“She’s exaggerating.”
Ryan walked straight toward his mother.
“Did you touch my pregnant wife with that iron?”
“She has poisoned you against your own family!”
Ryan slapped Margaret across the face.
The entire room went silent.
Margaret stared at him in disbelief.
“You hit your mother?”
Ryan stepped between us.
“You stopped being my mother the second you endangered my wife and daughter.”
Her face collapsed.
“Ryan—”
“No.”
He pointed toward the door.
“You are never coming near Emily, our children, or this house again.”
Margaret suddenly started crying.
“You’ll regret choosing her over your own blood.”
Ryan pulled out his phone.
“I’m also calling the police.”
That was when Margaret’s anger disappeared.
She looked genuinely terrified.
“Please don’t.”
May you like
Ryan narrowed his eyes.
“Why are you so afraid of the police?”
