CHAPTER 3 — The Garden Confession
Valeria didn’t hear the shouting inside.
She heard her own heartbeat.
The victim advocate approached slowly, kneeling beside her.
“You’re safe now.”
Safe.
The word felt foreign.
“I knew,” Valeria whispered. “I knew he’d hurt me again tonight.”
“Why didn’t you leave?”
Tears slid down her cheeks—not dramatic, not loud.
Just… exhausted.
“He said if I left… he’d destroy my father. The documents… the house… everything.”
The advocate nodded gently.
“And the bruises?”
Valeria looked down at her shaking hands.
“They started as apologies.”
A pause.
“Then they became rules.”
Behind the glass doors, Julian’s voice suddenly rose—
“YOU SET ME UP!”
Valeria flinched.
May you like
The advocate placed a steady hand over hers.
“No,” she said quietly.
“He exposed himself.”
