Chapter 4

David pictured every serious charge he could face, and cold fear washed over him.

Margaret shook with furious anger after watching David fall quiet and intimidated.

She charged straight toward me and raised her hand, ready to strike me across the face.

"I'll knock some sense into you, you shameless woman," she shouted.

I didn't stay still this time. I lifted my hand in an instant and caught her wrist before the blow landed.

My grip tightened hard around her skin, and Margaret cried out in sharp pain.

"How dare you resist me?" she snapped.

I stared at her face, now twisted with rage, and wore a cold, sharp smile.

"Mrs. Shaw, I can do more than resist you," I said.

My eyes turned sharp and frigid in the next second. "And I won't hesitate to flip your table if I want."

Before my words fully faded, I grabbed the edge of the tablecloth with my free hand and yanked it upward in one rough motion.

Dishes, food and soup crashed to the floor in a deafening crash.

Every plated meal and piece of dinnerware was scattered across the tiles. Hot broth splattered everywhere while meat and vegetables tangled together into a messy ruin.

Plates cracked and shattered across the room. The sharp crashing sound cut through the quiet dining room.

Margaret and David went completely rigid.

They stood frozen like stone figures, staring at the wreckage around them. Their eyes fixed on the ruined floor and on me, who was standing calm and unbroken with cold detachment in my stare.

They never expected me to push back this far.

I had shattered their quiet lunch and broken every unfair rule they had forced me to follow.

Margaret snapped out of her shock first and burst into loud shouting.

"You ruined my food and my fine plates!" she cried out.

She grieved over the damage as if she had suffered a terrible loss.

I released her wrist and stepped back to stay clear of the spilled food and grease on the floor.

I looked at the two of them, who were completely shocked. Then I said, slowly and clearly, "Your unfair rules mean nothing to me from this day forward. I'm done catering to every demand in this family."

I pulled the new house key from my pocket after I spoke, and then tossed it onto the broken table wreckage below.

The metal key clanged against fractured dishware with a sharp, crisp sound. That single noise closed this ugly chapter and put an end to their endless mistreatment.

"This place is a mess. Anyone who wants it can stay here," I said.

I turned toward the front door and walked away without a single glance back.

Margaret shouted furious insults behind me while David called out in a frantic rush.

"Emily, stop right now," David yelled.

"You reckless woman, get back in here," Margaret screamed.

I paid their angry shouts no mind.

I pulled the door open and stepped outside into the open air.

The sunlight felt brighter and warmer than it ever had before.

*****

I booked a simple budget hotel room to stay in temporarily.

I had barely finished showering and put healing ointment on my wounds when my phone began to ring nonstop.

David's name lit up the screen over and over again.

I let the calls ring out and chose not to answer.

The phone fell silent after several missed attempts, and a text message popped up instead.

David: [Emily, I know I messed up. I'm sorry for everything. Please calm down and come back home.]

I let out a cold scoff and typed a short reply. [Not a chance.]

He sent a new message only seconds later. [What are you trying to do? Do you want everyone in our circle to hear about our fights? We only recently got married. How will people judge you if our marriage ends this fast?]

He was still trying to pressure me with other people's thoughts.

I typed my response without hesitation. [I couldn't care less what strangers think of me. I only care about how I see myself.

[I will never again let myself be pushed around or mistreated in silence by my husband and his mother.]

A long stretch of silence followed after my message was sent.

He soon called me once more. This time, I answered.

I wanted to hear what weak excuses he would try to make next.

"Emily," David said in a tired, begging tone from the other end of the line. "Can we sit down and talk this through? Please come back first. We can work everything out."

"There is no need," I replied in a cold voice. "That house is no longer my home. We have nothing left to discuss. You will hear from me through official court documents soon."

"Do you really have to be this heartless?" His tone sharpened with clear frustration and panic. "We shared three years together. Are you willing to throw all of that away over something this trivial?"

"Something this trivial?" I retorted in disbelief. "David, your mother struck me and you held me down against the floor. How can you call such cruelty something trivial?"

"My mother has a bad temper. She is older and set in her ways. Why can't we simply tolerate her harsh moods?"

"You can choose to tolerate her all you want. That is your choice as her son. I'm not a Shaw, and I owe no respect to someone who hurts me and treats me with such cruelty."

"How dare you speak about my mother in such a disrespectful way?"

"I speak the truth and I won't hold back," I said in a cold, steady tone. "I have a question for you.

"When we got married, my parents gave us 70 thousand dollars in cash and a 100-thousand-dollar car as wedding gifts. Where did all those end up?"

A heavy silence fell over the line.

I went on, "That money is in your mom's bank account, isn't it? She said she was holding onto it for us. And the car is registered under your name, right? You claimed a man needs a nice car to feel respected when he's out."

"I..." David was lost for words.

"What?" I cut him off. "David, I loved you, but I was never ignorant. I once thought what belonged to me also belonged to you because we were married.

"I see things clearly now. What is mine remains mine, and what is yours belongs only to you and your mother.

"Let me put this plainly. Once we get divorced, you will give back every dollar of that cash. The car will get appraised, and its value will be credited to my share of marital assets."

"You can't do that." David grew upset. "That money and the car were meant for the two of us. Why should you take it all?"

"Why?" I let out a cold laugh. "I have my official injury report, and you are a grown man who can't stand on his own against his mother.

"David, go live with your mother if that's what you want. I'm done with this life, and I won't stay any longer."

I hung up the phone right after.

A sense of peace washed over me.