Chapter 1 - THE VASE ON THE FLOOR
The apartment had never felt so small.
Emma Carter stood frozen in the doorway, grocery bags hanging from her fingers.
Water spread across the hardwood floor.
Blue ceramic pieces glittered beneath the afternoon sunlight.
Flowers lay crushed beside the broken vase.
But Emma barely noticed any of it.
Her eyes were fixed on her mother.
Margaret Carter was pressed against the wooden cabinet, one trembling hand covering her cheek.
Her short blonde-grey hair was disheveled.
Tears filled her eyes.
And standing several feet away was Daniel.
Emma's thirty-four-year-old boyfriend looked completely different from the man she thought she knew.
His dark blue henley was wrinkled.
His jaw was tight.
His finger was still pointed toward Margaret.
"Look at what you've done!"
Emma slowly lowered the grocery bags.
"What happened here?"
Margaret looked at her daughter.
For one terrible second, she said nothing.
Then her voice cracked.
"He just got so mad."
Daniel immediately turned toward Emma.
"She tripped over the vase."
Emma stared at him.
Her heart beat faster.
"Don't lie to me."
Silence swallowed the room.
Daniel's expression changed.
The anger disappeared.
Panic replaced it.
"Emma, you're misunderstanding."
"I heard you."
"You didn't hear everything."
"I heard you shouting."
Daniel stepped closer.
Emma instinctively moved backward.
That small movement changed something inside her.
She had never been afraid of him before.
Now she was.
Margaret noticed.
"Emma," she whispered, "don't come closer."
Daniel looked at Margaret.
"Stop making this worse."
Emma stepped between them.
"Don't talk to my mother like that."
Daniel's face hardened.
"She attacked me."
Emma looked at the broken vase.
Then at her mother's cheek.
Then at Daniel.
"With a vase?"
"No."
"Then why is her face red?"
Daniel opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Emma's stomach twisted.
She reached for her phone.
Daniel's eyes immediately dropped toward it.
"Who are you calling?"
"The police."
His face went pale.
"Emma, don't."
For the first time, she saw fear in his eyes.
And she realized something terrifying.
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Daniel wasn't afraid of being misunderstood.
He was afraid of being caught.
