His eyes darkened. “Then you’re leaving me no choice. I’ll lock you up in our house until you learn how to respect your own family.”
I felt the laugh bubbling up but it came out as a scoff instead. I could see it so clearly now — how he had shown me his true face the moment Jasmine opened her eyes. I was nothing again. Less than nothing.
“Lock me up then,” I muttered. I looked him straight in the eye. “You never even cared that I lost our child.”
His face twisted, not understanding the last words I said. “What did you say?”
But I was already walking away. He never cared to follow because Jasmine told him to let me go… I was just mad and would be okay in a while.
Well, I would never be okay.
When I got home, I went straight to the little altar I’d built for my father — and now, my baby. I lit a candle for the child I’d never get to meet, my hand steady even as the tears blurred my vision.
The ping of my phone startled me. It was my mother: Everything will be prepared in three days. The helicopter will be waiting with your fiance. Come home.
I clutched the phone to my chest and nodded to no one but myself. Three more days. That was all I had to survive.