Page 168 of Face Off | AllFreeNovel

“I’m not asking you to accept it.”

“Good.”

Her hands tightened around the clutch. “I’m trying to tell you that I finally stopped accepting it from myself.”

Something in her voice changed the direction of my anger, and I watched her more carefully. A door shut somewhere beyond the stone wall, and Crystal flinched before catching herself, the reaction small enough that someone who hadn’t spent half his life studying fear might have missed it.

I didn’t.

I knew what fear looked like before people were willing to give it a name. I knew the tiny recoil, the tightened shoulders, the way someone forced their body back under control quickly enough to convince everyone around them that nothing had happened. Crystal had recovered almost immediately, but I had already seen enough.

“Has he hit you?”

Her eyes closed.

My hands curled at my sides. “How long?”

“Ryan—”

“How fucking long?”

“The first time was after Charlie died.”

The name altered the anger without reducing it.

Crystal looked toward the gardens. “Lance wasn’t always this man. He was controlling in ways I excused. He cared too much about appearances. He believed providing for us gave him the right to make decisions for everyone. But there was warmth in him once. He loved Charlie. He loved Charm. After Charlie died, he became terrified of losing another child, and instead of grieving, he decided controlling every part of Charm’s life would keep her safe.”

“Her clothes. Her friends. Her grades. Her future. Her man.”

Crystal’s eyes filled. “Yes.”

“Her body.”

She looked down.

“Yeah. That too.”

“He became colder every year,” she whispered. “Every disagreement became disrespect. Every time I defended Charm, he told me I was encouraging her to throw away everything we sacrificed for her. Eventually, when words stopped working…”