Chapter 3
My father slammed his fist on the wooden table,
and the porcelain coffee cups rattled loudly.
He said this was all a massive misunderstanding,
and he insisted he was only protecting his daughter.
He looked at me with a desperate and angry expression,
and he told me I had to forgive them for this mistake.
He said family was the most important thing in the world,
and he said public scandals would ruin all of our lives.
I stared at the man who had raised me from childhood,
and I realized I did not know him at all anymore.
He was willing to sacrifice my physical and mental health,
and he was willing to do it just to save his own reputation.
My mother reached out to touch my arm gently,
but I pulled away from her as fast as I could.
She said she wanted to tell me the truth every day,
and she said the guilt was eating her alive inside.
I told her that her tears were completely useless now,
and I said her silence was the loudest lie of all.
She had watched me struggle to walk down the hallway,
and she had told me to stop dwelling on the dark past.
She had praised Elise for being such a supportive sister,
and she had known the entire time that Elise broke me.
Graham stood up slowly from his chair next to Elise,
and he threw his cloth napkin onto the dirty floor.
He looked at the woman he had married five years ago,
and he said he felt entirely sick to his stomach.
Elise reached out to grab his hand in a panic,
but he took a large step backward away from her.
He said he could not look at her face right now,
and he said he needed to get out of this toxic house.
Elise begged him to stay and listen to her side,
and she said she did it all for their future family.
Graham shook his head slowly in pure disbelief,
and he walked straight toward the large front door.
He did not look back as he walked out into the rain,
and the door clicked shut with a very heavy sound.
Elise let out a loud wail of pure agonizing despair,
and she collapsed onto the floor in a heap of fabric.
My father tried to pick her up off the ground,
but she pushed him away with surprising aggressive force.
She blamed him for making her keep the terrible secret,
and she said his brilliant plan had ruined everything.
They started screaming at each other in the dining room,
and their perfect family image shattered into tiny pieces.
My grandmother watched them argue with a cold stare,
and she did not offer a single word of comfort to them.
She walked over to where I was standing with Rowan,
and she gently patted my hand with her wrinkled fingers.
She said she was incredibly sorry for my deep pain,
and she said she always knew something was terribly wrong.
She said the family was completely rotten to the core,
and she said I was the only good thing left in it.
Rowan picked up the gray folder from the wet table,
and he tucked it safely under his strong right arm.
May you like
The noise of the argument echoed off the tall walls,
and I felt a strange sense of peace washing over me.
