Chapter 4

I sat on the cold tile floor of my parents' bathroom, clutching my bleeding arm and fighting back tears. The cut wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but it stung fiercely as I pressed a hand towel against it. Through the closed door, I could hear my parents arguing in harsh whispers.

"She's being completely irrational," my mother hissed. "Luke called me in tears, saying she's been sneaking around with lawyers behind his back."

"Maybe we should at least drive her to urgent care," my father suggested, his voice characteristically weak and uncertain.

"And reward this behavior? She fell because…