PART 2 – The Line I Crossed
I didn’t shout. I didn’t hesitate.
I grabbed my mother’s wrist and forced her hand away from Anna’s hair.
Hard.
Hard enough that she stumbled back a step, shock flashing across her face like I had just struck her.
For the first time in my life… I saw fear in her eyes.
“You don’t touch her,” I said, my voice low—too calm.
Anna collapsed against the counter, trembling. I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her close, shielding her body with mine.
My mother laughed.
But it wasn’t her usual confident laugh.
It cracked.
“Oh? So now you choose her?” she sneered. “After everything I’ve done for you?”
I didn’t answer.
Because something inside me had already decided.
“I’m calling a doctor,” I said.
Anna whispered, “No… please…”
But I had already seen enough.
Her wrists were red.
Her fingers were pale from the freezing water.
And then I noticed something worse—
A faint bruise beneath her sleeve.
May you like
I turned back to my mother.
“What else have you done?”
