Chapter 2 - The Boy Who Was AfraidLeo had stopped crying loudly.
That frightened Clara more than the screaming.
The little boy simply clung to her, shaking so violently that she could feel every tremor through his jacket.
“Mommy,” he whispered, “are we going to be okay?”
Clara closed her eyes.
She wanted to tell him yes.
She wanted to promise him that his father would never frighten him again.
But promises had become dangerous things in the Vance household.
Tyler had made plenty of them.
He promised he would change.
He promised he would never hit her again.
He promised he loved them.
And each promise had eventually been followed by another terrifying night.
Clara looked at the black duffel bag.
Inside were only a few clothes, Leo's medication, important documents, two photographs, and enough cash for a couple of days.
It wasn't much.
But it represented the first real attempt she had ever made to leave.
Tyler noticed her looking at it.
“You planned this?”
His voice became dangerously quiet.
Clara instinctively tightened her arms around Leo.
Eleanor watched from beside the kitchen island.
She remembered Tyler as a little boy.
The boy who once ran into her arms after scraping his knee.
The boy who slept against her shoulder during thunderstorms.
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She had spent decades telling herself that he was still somewhere inside the man standing before her.
Tonight, for the first time, she wondered whether she had been protecting the memory of a son who no longer existed.
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