Chapter 9 - The Pantry Incident
I reached out and gently laid my fingers over the sleeve covering her injured wrist. "And the bruise, Emily?" I asked quietly, demanding the truth she had tried so hard to hide. "Tell me exactly where that came from."
Emily swallowed hard, her eyes darting nervously toward the kitchen doorway before focusing back on me.
"Three days ago, I finally hit my limit," she explained, her voice dropping to a terrified whisper. "I told Ryan that I couldn't take the rules anymore. I told him I wanted to drive up and stay with you and Dad for just a week to rest before the baby comes. He got incredibly angry. We were standing right there, by the pantry."
She pointed a shaking finger at the heavy wooden door near the refrigerator.
"I tried to walk past him, but he stepped in my way. When I tried to push past, he grabbed my arm. He squeezed it so hard that I cried out, and then he shoved me backward. I hit my shoulder hard against the wooden shelving behind me."
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I gasped, pure maternal fury roaring to life in my blood. "Did he hit you anywhere else, Emily? Did he hurt the baby?"
"No. Not like that," she sobbed, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "But he uses his body to block doorways when he's angry. He physically takes my phone out of my hands when we argue. After he shoved me, he leaned in close and said that if I ever embarrassed him in front of his parents again, I would deeply regret it. He told me that if I tried to leave, he would go to a judge, tell them I was mentally unstable, and take the baby away from me forever."
