“Chloe, listen to me. Everything we did, we did for your future. That boy was going to trap you here forever. We saved you.”
“You didn’t save me. You broke him!”
“Honey, please. Let’s talk about this in person. Don’t do anything rash.”
I hung up. My father hadn’t said a single word in the background, and I knew he was there. I could hear him breathing.
I sat there staring at the black laptop screen, terrified.
If I exposed them, I’d lose everything I thought a family was.
But if I stayed quiet, I’d become them.
Terry reached for my hand, and I finally understood what the following day had to look like.
***
The following morning, I drove to my parents’ house with Terry beside me.
My hands were surprisingly steady on the wheel.
My mother opened the door with red, swollen eyes. My father stood behind her, somehow looking smaller.
