"That vile woman attacked me," she sobbed, her voice choked with tears yet every syllable bitten off with surgical precision. "She grabbed my head and slammed it into the wall. She kept screaming that she's your wife. My head hurts so much..."
Tears streamed down her cheeks. So innocent. So pitiful.
Dustin turned to look at me. His gaze cut like a blade dragged across bare skin. I opened my mouth, but my throat sealed shut. Not a single word came out.
"I didn't," I finally managed, my voice cracking. "I didn't slam her. She did it to herself. She's lying!"
The fury in Dustin's eyes only deepened.
"So now you're calling her a liar? Calling my wife a liar?"
"Wife?" I couldn't stop myself from repeating the word. My expression must have been grotesque. "Dustin, who exactly is your wife?"
He shielded Alice behind him. Only her eyes were visible past his shoulder, fixed on me, glittering with undisguised triumph.
"Shut your mouth!" The rage in his dark pupils had become something uncontainable. "You've gone too far, Cecily. Alice is fragile enough as it is. How could you be this cruel to her?"
"She slammed herself into that wall!"