Chapter 1 - The Stick On The Marble Floor
Amanda Whitman came home one day early.
That single change in schedule saved her from believing her marriage for another twenty-four hours.
The front door of the luxury family living room flew open just as nine-year-old Tyler Carter swung the short wooden stick for the second time.
Four-year-old Ethan was already crawling desperately across the polished marble floor, one sock missing, dinosaur pajamas twisted at the shoulder as he tried to get away.
The first strike landed across his upper arm.
Ethan cried out.
He rolled onto his side and raised both arms instinctively over his head.
Tyler swung again.
The stick struck Ethan across the shoulder.
Ethan curled tightly against the floor, sobbing.
Tyler pointed the stick down at him.
“YOU DON’T BELONG HERE!”
Then the door opened.
Amanda stepped inside.
Her suitcase slipped from her hand.
“ETHAN!”
She ran.
There was no hesitation.
Amanda grabbed Tyler firmly by the shoulder, yanked him sharply away from her son, and knocked the stick from his hand. It clattered across the marble and stopped near the white sofa.
Tyler stumbled backward.
Amanda immediately dropped beside Ethan and pulled him tightly into her arms. His upper arm and shoulder showed only light redness, but he was shaking so hard she could feel it through his pajamas.
She had barely started checking him when Richard stormed across the living room.
Not toward Ethan.
Toward Amanda.
“DON’T TOUCH TYLER!”
Amanda slowly looked up at her husband.
For a second she seemed not to understand the sentence.
Then she looked down at their crying four-year-old son.
Back at Richard.
“HE WAS HITTING YOUR SON!”
Richard said nothing.
That silence was louder than an answer.
Brooke Carter stepped beside him.
She pulled Tyler close and gave Amanda the kind of smug look no mistress should ever be confident enough to wear inside another woman’s home.
“CONTROL YOUR OWN KID.”
Amanda rose slowly.
She positioned Ethan safely behind her body.
Then she looked at Brooke.
At Richard.
At the way Richard instinctively stood closer to Brooke than to the wife and son he had not even asked whether they were okay.
Something inside Amanda went cold.
Brooke folded her arms.
Then stepped directly into Amanda’s space.
“RICHARD TAKES CARE OF US.”
Amanda laughed once.
Bitterly.
Then slapped Brooke hard across the face.
Brooke’s head jerked sideways. She stumbled backward, stunned.
Amanda stepped toward her and pointed directly at her.
“YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHOSE MONEY—”
Brooke stared.
Richard went completely still.
Amanda finished through clenched teeth.
“—HE USES TO KEEP YOU, DO YOU?!”
Brooke’s face drained of color.
Richard’s confidence vanished.
Tyler looked from one adult to another, confused.
Amanda reached backward and pulled Ethan securely against her side.
Then she turned toward her husband.
Richard could not meet her eyes.
And in that moment Amanda understood that the betrayal in her living room was not only sexual.
May you like
It had been financed.
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