Chapter 5 - The Spineless Husband
Daniel scrambled out of his chair, rushing across the room toward me with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Clara! Clara, baby, please!” Daniel pleaded, dropping to his knees on the floorboards, reaching out to grasp the hem of my jeans. “I’m so sorry! I didn't know! My mother manipulated me! She told me you were trying to break up our family! I was just trying to keep the peace!”
I looked down at the man who had watched his mother drag me by my scalp, who had watched me get slapped across the face, and who had turned his head away to protect his own comfort.
“Get off your knees, Daniel,” I said softly.
“Clara, I love you! We can start over! We can move out of this house!”
“When she dragged me across these tiles, Daniel,” I whispered, each word dropping like an iron anchor into his chest, “you didn't move an inch. You didn't ask if my knees were bleeding. You folded your arms and waited for her to finish.”
I pulled my ankle away from his touch.
“You didn't want a wife, Daniel. You wanted a buffer between you and your mother’s cruelty. And now, you can face the consequences alone.”
Julian Hayes stepped forward, placing a white legal folio into Daniel’s trembling hands.
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“Mr. Daniel Vance,” Julian stated ruthlessly. “You are served with an immediate Petition for Dissolution of Marriage on the grounds of felony domestic complicity, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and gross abandonment.”
Daniel slumped forward onto the tiles, weeping in pathetic, broken despair.
