Chapter 10 - The Christmas Punch Made Rosalie Reinterpret Her Own Marriage
For years, Rosalie had explanations for everything Callum did to her.
He grabbed her because she tried to walk away mid-argument.
He blocked the door because he wanted them to finish talking.
He smashed objects because he would never hit her.
He monitored her because he worried.
Then she watched the Christmas footage.
Again.
And again.
She saw her mother say:
“Get out of my house.”
She saw Callum walk toward me.
She saw him punch me.
No hidden argument.
No private marital history.
No claim that I knew which buttons to push.
Just one adult telling another to leave her property—
and Callum responding with violence.
Rosalie paused the video.
“He always says I make him react.”
I sat beside her.
She pressed play again.
I did nothing before the punch except speak.
Rosalie whispered:
“You didn’t do anything.”
That was when the pattern changed in her mind.
If Callum could hit me without me “making” him—
May you like
then perhaps she had never been making him either.
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