The officer’s hand moved toward his belt, and for the first time since James had shoved Sarah into the glass display, the confidence drained from her husband’s face.
James looked from the silver badge to Sarah, then back to the man standing several feet away.
Something about the officer’s eyes bothered him.
Sarah saw the exact moment recognition began to form.
Not recognition of James.
Recognition of her.
The officer was Daniel, Sarah’s older brother.
For a few seconds, nobody inside L’Élégance spoke.
The boutique’s soft music continued as if nothing had happened.
Broken crystal glittered near the perfume counter.
A crack ran through the glass display behind Sarah.
Several shoppers remained frozen in place, suddenly realizing that the silent scene they had tried not to become part of was no longer going to disappear quietly.
Daniel kept his attention on James.
“Move away from her,” he repeated.
James lifted both hands a few inches, playing calm.
“There’s been a misunderstanding.”
Daniel’s gaze dropped to Sarah’s wrist.
Five darkening marks curved around it where James’s fingers had been.
Then Daniel looked at Sarah’s seven-month pregnant stomach, at the cracked glass behind her, and finally at the tear she had not managed to hide.
His jaw tightened, but his voice remained professional.
“Sarah, are you hurt?”
James turned sharply toward her.
It was a tiny movement, but Daniel noticed it.
So did Sarah.
Until that moment, James had been controlling the room with looks.
A glance at an employee had been enough to make her lower her eyes.
A smile at a shopper had warned her not to interfere.
His entire power depended on everyone understanding that speaking would cost more than silence.
Sarah had lived beneath that same threat for too long.
James answered for her.
“She’s fine.”
Daniel’s eyes moved back to him.
“I asked Sarah.”
James gave a strained laugh.
“She’s my wife.”
“That doesn’t make you her spokesman.”
The room seemed to contract around them.
Sarah stared at her brother.
She had imagined telling him the truth many times.
She had imagined doing it over coffee, in his car, on the telephone, anywhere James could not hear.
Each time, fear had stopped her.
James had spent years carefully teaching her what he believed would happen if she spoke.
No one would believe her.
His friends would defend him.
His lawyers would destroy her.
People would call her unstable.
He would take everything.
And now Daniel was standing in front of her while the proof of James’s violence was still visible on her skin.
“Sarah?” Daniel asked again.
Her mouth felt dry.
James stared at her.
She recognized the warning in his face.
Then she looked down at her wrist.
“He grabbed me,” she said.
The words were almost a whisper.
James’s expression changed.
