His Betrayal, My Erased Memory

ght was

at Kasey' s house. The heart rate monitor on my linked watch pulsed violently,

, Cody s

ing me to "bond" with the boy. Leaving me alone in

He was throwing toys,

w me. He charged and body-slammed me

ll to the floor, instantly b

going to tell my

He was a weapon, tr

You're a bad wo

On my wrist, the watch showed

ent: Cody's incessant wailing from upstairs and the sile

, I felt l

left my side. He held me, fed me, shielded me from the world. He ha

r my husband to come home from another woman's bed, whi

I forced myself to go to my room, desperate

was kic

ark, stormed in. Her face

nails digging in, and dragged m

hrieked. "Cody has a fever

e, standing by the bed. Kasey was beside him

ecoiled, pulling the b

med, his voice muffled. "Don't m

Florence grabbed my hai

a dresser, the corner digging into my ribs. "You killed my first grandson

despised me, my middle-class backgrou

pain shooting through my side

ault," she sobbed. "I shouldn't have left him with her.

r eyes pleading.

f Cody. His legs were covered

he slapped me across the face, the for

face for any sign of support, any hint that h

es wer

throat. He believed t

w and heavy with disappointm

me. He looked at t

bodyguards who had appeared at the door. "Lock

ouse at the reservoir. A small

te

st fear s

let them drag me a

the door. Water was already seeping in, cold and black. It

right sun, the blue water of our pool, the terrifying silence

s patiently helping me, holding me in a pool until I could breat

same terror to punish me.

kness and the suffocating pressure close

w Leo's face. He was s

eye, mixing with

tire life with Eli. It w

myself