Chapter 1 - The Broken Bone and Frozen Floor
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Agony radiated from my left leg like molten iron poured directly into the bone. I collapsed against the freezing kitchen tile, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps as my mother-in-law, Brenda, stood over me. She was still clutching the heavy wooden rolling pin she had used to shatter my shin. Her face was flushed red with cruel, sadistic triumph.
“That will teach you to watch your tone in my house!” Brenda spat, kicking a stray drop of dinner stew off her orthopedic shoe.
I was immobilized, shivering in my pajamas, clutching my leg as a blinding, nauseating pain shot straight up my spine. My foot was already going numb. This nightmare had started over nothing. I had merely suggested, in the softest voice possible, that the dinner stew Brenda prepared was too high in sodium for my father-in-law’s severe heart condition.
The back door clicked open, and my husband, Derek, walked into the kitchen carrying his briefcase. My foolish, desperate heart surged with a brief flicker of hope. I thought the man who had sworn before God to cherish and protect me would instantly drop his bags, wrap me in his arms, and call an ambulance.
Instead, Derek stepped casually over the pool of spilled stew, knelt beside me, and grabbed my chin in a bruising grip. He forced my face up to meet his empty, indifferent eyes.
“Abigail, you always provoke my mother,” Derek said, his voice completely devoid of warmth. “What would it take for you to just keep your mouth shut for once?”
“Derek... please,” I begged, tears blurring my vision as cold sweat soaked my shirt. “I think my leg is broken. I can’t feel my toes... please call nine-one-one.”
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Derek slowly released my chin and stood up. He wiped his fingers on his dark denim jeans as if touching his injured wife was repulsive. He looked down at the swelling already stretching the fabric of my pants.
“Leave her there,” Derek said coldly, turning to his mother. “The broken leg will be her punishment for not knowing how to obey.”
