My birthday.
Victoria did better.
Barely.
“I have no idea what you’re implying.”
“Yes, you do.”
Adrian moved toward me.
“Eleanor, come upstairs.”
“No.”
“Now.”
“No.”
His hand closed around the back of my chair.
My body reacted before my mind did.
I jerked away.
Pain flashed across my bruised face.
Victoria saw.
Really saw.
And for the first time, something like unease crossed her expression.
Then the doorbell rang.
Adrian looked toward the hallway.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
He walked to the front entrance.
I heard the door open.
Then silence.
“Mr. Holloway?”
A man’s voice.
“Yes?”
“Adrian Holloway?”
“Yes.”
Footsteps.
Rebecca appeared first.
Behind her were two police officers.
Beside them stood my older cousin Caroline, holding my coat and overnight bag.
Adrian turned toward me.
His expression was almost fascinating.
Shock first.
Then calculation.
Then fury.
“What did you do?”
Rebecca stepped between us before he moved.
“Mr. Holloway, don’t.”
Victoria rose.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Rebecca looked at her.
“Mrs. Holloway, I suggest you call counsel.”
Adrian laughed.
A sharp, disbelieving sound.
“You called the police?”
I stood.
“No.”
He stared.
“I called my lawyer.”
One of the officers spoke.
“Ma’am, we need to talk to you separately.”
Adrian’s eyes dropped to my face.
Then to the cosmetics.
Then back to me.
He finally understood.
The makeup kit.
The bruise.
His command.
His calm breakfast.
All of it.
“Eleanor.”
My name sounded different in his mouth now.
Smaller.
“Don’t do this.”
I picked up my handbag.
“You already did.”
Victoria moved toward me.
“We can handle this privately.”
I looked at her.
That sentence.
That ancient, poisonous sentence women have heard in wealthy homes and poor homes, behind marble doors and broken ones.
Handle it privately.
Protect the family.
Don’t embarrass him.
Think of the name.
I looked at Adrian.
Then Victoria.
“Privacy is where both of you learned to hide.”
And I walked out.
I did not return for seventeen days.
The first three passed in Caroline’s guest room with curtains I did not recognize and a mattress too soft for my back.
