Chapter 3
Marcus denied everything.
Badly.
“I told Sofia to stop creating tension.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“What tension?”
He shrugged.
“She doesn’t fit.”
Silence.
I looked at him.
He continued anyway.
“She never learned how these families work.”
“Which part?”
“Hosting. Staff management. Appearances.”
I almost smiled.
“You mean being Delia.”
His face tightened.
That was answer enough.
My sister had always disliked Sofia.
She called it concern.
Said Sofia was too soft.
Too ordinary.
Too uninterested in hierarchy.
I had mistaken it for snobbery.
I should have looked deeper.
“What did you tell my wife about Lily?”
Marcus hesitated.
I leaned closer.
“Careful.”
He sighed.
“That if she disrupted the family, custody would become complicated.”
My blood went cold.
“You said custody.”
“It was a figure of speech.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“It was a threat.”
Marcus rolled his eyes.
“She was being dramatic.”
Classic.
The frightened person becomes dramatic.
The person frightening them becomes reasonable.
I looked at Delia.
She remained silent.
Good.
Marcus continued.
“You were barely home. Somebody had to keep order.”
I stared.
“So while I worked, you reorganized my marriage?”
He laughed once.
“You act like Sofia was chained to the sink.”
Behind me, a small voice answered:
“She cried there.”
Everyone turned.
Lily stood in the doorway holding Sofia’s cardigan.
I crouched.
“Sweetheart, go back to Mommy.”
She shook her head.
“Marcus laughed.”
His face changed.
I looked at him.
“When?”
Lily pointed toward the kitchen.
“When Mommy dropped the plate.”
I turned.
“What happened?”
Marcus said nothing.
Lily answered.
“He said poor people break expensive things.”
The room went silent.
I looked at Marcus.
“And Sofia?”
Lily whispered:
“She said sorry.”
That was the part that broke something in me.
May you like
My wife had been humiliated inside my house.
And they had trained her to apologize for it.
