Chapter 5

When I kept my head down and continued packing without giving him so much as a glance, he pressed on, "I've already set it up for tomorrow. You're coming with me. You'll be there the whole time. Just think of yourself as Max's aunt.

"It's all an act, and it's for the child's sake. Can you please just be reasonable about this?"

He assumed my silence meant I was still nursing a grudge. What he didn't see was the blood still trickling down my face.

I stopped packing and, for once, didn't do what I always did.

I didn't beg…