“She needs treatment,” Robert insisted. “This is kidnapping.”
I faced them all. “Mark—if you ever touch her again, I won’t involve the police.”
He understood.
“And you,” I said to his parents, “if you ever call her unstable again without explaining the marks on her body, everyone will know what happens in this house.”
“Families handle things privately,” Linda snapped.
“This isn’t a family,” I said, guiding Emily out. “It’s a crime scene.”
Outside, the cold air hit her lungs and she breathed like someone surfacing.
At the steps, she turned back once. “Why?” she asked Mark quietly. “Why did you let them do this?”
He had no answer.
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