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.
