Chapter 6
Megan pointed toward the doorway.
Not dramatically.
Weakly.
Like even the movement cost her.
“Your mother. Every time you left for work.”
The bedroom went still.
Jake did not turn immediately.
His face emptied first.
Then hardened.
Margaret’s lips parted.
“No.”
It was not a denial with force.
It was a denial of inconvenience.
Jake rose slowly.
Megan reached for him without thinking, catching his wrist.
“Jake.”
He looked down.
Her fingers trembled against his uniform sleeve.
She was not asking him to attack.
She was asking him not to become something frightening in response.
He understood.
So he breathed once.
Then stepped in front of the bed, placing his body between Megan and Margaret.
Margaret tried to recover.
“She is lying.”
Jake’s voice was low.
“Don’t.”
“You believe her over me?”
“I believe what I saw.”
Margaret’s eyes flashed.
“You saw bruises. You didn’t see who made them.”
Jake looked at her for a long moment.
“No. But you did.”
Margaret froze.
The sentence landed because it was true in a way she had not prepared for.
A shocked mother would have rushed to Megan.
A frightened grandmother would have asked about the baby.
Margaret had done neither.
She had controlled the narrative before Jake even finished seeing the injuries.
That was not innocence.
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That was familiarity.
Read the full story 👉 Margaret denied everything, but Jake realized her lack of shock was its own answer.
