Chapter 2 - The Mask Slips
Evelyn released Anna’s hair so fast you’d think she had touched live voltage.
She stumbled back against the kitchen island, clutching her chest, instantly shifting into her practiced performance.
"Mark! Oh, thank God you’re awake!" Evelyn gasped, her voice trembling with theatrical panic. "I came down for warm milk and found Anna stumbling around in the dark! She was so dizzy she almost fell into the sink! I was just holding her up—"
"Shut your mouth," I said.
I stepped into the kitchen light. I didn't look at Evelyn. I moved straight to Anna.
Anna slumped against my chest the moment my arms wrapped around her. She was shivering uncontrollably, her skin icy to the touch, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. I shut off the roaring faucet with one hand, grabbed a dry dish towel, and wrapped it around her shivering shoulders.
"Mark, honey, you didn't see what happened—" Evelyn started, stepping closer, reaching out to touch my shoulder with her manicured hand.
"I said shut your damn mouth!" I roared, turning on her with a fury that shook the glassware on the open shelves.
Evelyn flinched violently, taking two steps back until her spine hit the pantry door. She had never heard me yell at her in my entire life. Not when she dictated my college major, not when she tried to pick my career, and not when she moved into our spare bedroom three months ago under the guise of "helping with the nursery."
"You touched her," I whispered, the rage burning a hole through my throat. "You dragged my heavily pregnant wife out of our bed in the middle of the night, forced her to scrub dishes in freezing water, and pulled her hair."
"She broke my mother’s porcelain plate!" Evelyn shrieked, the sweet maternal facade peeling away to reveal the raw malice underneath. "She disrespects me in my own son’s house! She ignores me, she rolls her eyes, she turns you against me! I was disciplining her! Someone has to teach this little gold-digger how a real household runs!"
"Discipline?" I repeated, my vision tunneling red. "She is my wife. This is our house. You are a guest."
"A guest?!" Evelyn scoffed, her face twisting into a hideous sneer. "I am your mother! Everything you have is because of me! You wouldn't even have this house without the trust fund your father left, which I manage!"
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"You touch that money, you don't touch that money—I don't give a damn anymore," I said, lifting Anna gently into my arms.
Anna let out a sharp gasp of pain, clutching her lower abdomen. "Mark... the baby... it hurts. It really hurts."
