Leo threw his game controller onto the table and spun around, his face flushed with annoyance. “Do you know what time it is? I worked all day, and I come home to a wet floor and no dinner! Do you think you’re a queen?”
Maya leaned against the wall to keep from collapsing. “I was at the ER, Leo. I texted you. I called you…”
“I was busy!” Leo shouted. “You’re always manufacturing drama to get out of chores!”
“I miscarried, Leo,” Maya stated flatly, looking directly into the eyes of the man she once loved. “The baby is gone. Because of the physical stress. The doctor said the placenta detached.”
The room went silent for a second. Maya waited for a flicker of regret, a shred of humanity.
Instead, Leo sneered. “Bullshit. You’re lying because you forgot to buy groceries. You’re pathetic. You can’t even carry a child right.”
Smack.
The back of his hand cracked across her face, sending Maya tumbling to the floor, blood tasting sharp in her mouth.
“Don’t lie to me!” Leo roared, fueled by his own toxic rage. He stepped forward, looming over his trembling wife. He raised his fist, preparing to deliver a devastating punch to her tear-streaked face.
“Get up! You are going to clean this mess right now!”