Chapter 6 - The Slap and the Threat
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"I won't sign," I said, letting the trembling leave my voice, replacing it with pure, concentrated steel. "I built this company with my father's blood and my own sweat. You are a leech, Mark. And your mother is a pathetic parasite who couldn't even pay her own mortgage until I wrote the check."
Diane’s face twisted into an ugly mask of rage.
Before Mark could stop her, Diane raised her hand and struck me across the face.
PAH!
The sharp crack echoed off the concrete walls. My head snapped sideways against the hard hospital pillow. A searing heat burned across my left cheekbone, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth where my teeth had cut the inside of my lip.
In the bassinet, the sudden violence startled Lily. She let out a sharp, terrified wail, her tiny arms flailing against her swaddling blanket.
"Who will believe a paralyzed woman?" Diane sneered, leaning down until her nostrils flared inches from my bruised face. "You're broken, Claire. You have no witnesses. It's your word against ours."
Mark didn't reprimand his mother. Instead, he reached out, grabbed the handle of Lily’s bassinet, and pulled the wheeled cart across the room, positioning it behind Vanessa and himself, far out of my physical reach.
"Sign the papers, Claire," Mark growled, grabbing my limp hand and jamming the pen violently between my fingers. "Sign them right now, or I swear to God I will make sure you never hold that baby again."
I squeezed my eyes shut as tears slipped down my temples.
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They mistook my tears for utter surrender. Vanessa let out a victorious laugh, and Diane pulled out her phone to take a photograph of my hands on the documents.
Then, the heavy wooden door behind them slammed open with a deafening crash.
