Page 34 of Break

There’s more to this story, but she’s being deliberately evasive. “And?” I ask, urging her to continue.

I feel sick when I see her close her eyes for a moment, like she’s recalling a memory. Her face goes slightly pale. “Danny doesn’t like to be told no.”

I run her words through my head, trying to comprehend what she’s saying without actually saying it. Then it hits me. He wants a baby with her. If she says no and he ignores that…

“He raped you?”

The bowl she’s rinsing in the sink clatters to the bottom with a loud bang when it slips out of her hand. “I’m his wife,” she announces, picking the bowl back up.

Mina isn’t looking at me, but I can see her hands trembling as she wipes away the food particles sticking to the metal.Who fucking cares if you’re married? If someone says no, that’s still rape, goddamnit!

I stand up to approach her, wanting to let her know that it’snotokay, but before I take a step, she continues in a soft voice.

“The next day, I went to the police station one more time to try to convince them I needed some help to leave. I have no money, no place to go, and no one who isn’t friends with both Danny and I. They told me the same thing as last time, that I should contact a lawyer for legal advice. Danny is friends with someone who works there and was notified about what I was trying to do. He wasn’t happy when he found out and… well, you know the rest.” She waves her free hand at her bound shoulder.

When she looks back up at me, she’s just… empty. I can’t tell what she’s thinking or what her worries are, and I’m interrupted again before I can ask her.

The front door slams, the sound ricocheting through the kitchen, making her jerk her head back down to continue prepping lunch.

Walter goes bounding to the front door with a bark and his tail wagging wildly.

“What’s going on, my people?” Vincent’s voice calls out from the living room. I ease my body back onto my stool where I’ve been planted for an hour now and look up at my friend as he walks into the kitchen. “Oohh, what smells so fucking good? You cooking, Mina?” He rubs his hands together like he’s excited over the prospect of eating a home-cooked meal.

I try to catch his attention by answering for her. “She offered to make lunch today. Let’s go grab Max. I think he’s outside.”

Vincent nods his head, his eyes locked on Mina as she hurries through the finishing touches on the meal. “Sounds good,” he drawls out slowly. He’s picking up on the heavy mood in the kitchen, throwing me a questioning look, then asks her, “You doing okay, Mina?”

Her whispered “fine” has me grinding my teeth, but I know now isn’t the right time to push her.

Gentling my voice so she hopefully understands I’m not angry at her. I’m only furious at the worthless human being she tied herself to. “We’ll go grab Max and get out of your hair for a few minutes.”

She doesn’t respond.

I grab Vincent’s arm to pull him out of the kitchen, stopping him from running his mouth without knowing what’s been going on. The fucker is smart enough to stay silent until we get outside where he jerks his arm and rounds on me. “The hell is going on? What was that all about?”

Looking back at the house, I speak softly, just in case she hears us. “I’ll let you know in a minute. Max first.”

Huffing in annoyance, he walks behind me, muttering, “You know, secrets don’t make friends. I brought the file, by the way, but maybe I’ll hold on to that until everyone stops playing games.”

Rounding on him, I take a breath to calm down. “I’m not keeping secrets, but I can only say what I have to say once without hauling ass out of here to commit murder.”

“Jesus, what-”

“Max. First,” I bite out through my teeth. Thankfully, he keeps his questions to himself until we find Max out in the detached garage where he keeps his shop. The woodworking hobby he does on the side is something he picked up shortly after his mom passed. His skills have drastically improved since he first started.

Looking up from where he’s sanding a rough-cut table top, Max turns off the machine and removes his goggles from his face. He looks between us, then back in the house’s direction. “Who’s with Mina?”

Vincent grins as he rubs his stomach. “We were just in there. She’s cooking, man. Clear this shit up so you can come eat.Butnot before Ethan shares with the class.” Looking at me, he leans against the wall and crosses his arms, waiting me out.

“Share what? Did something happen?” Max asks while he unplugs the sander and slowly wraps the cord around the base while studying me. “What’s going on?”

Taking a deep breath, I internalize how much I want to destroy Danny, and let my friends know her situation is worse than we thought.

“That day we saw her walking outside the station, remember?” I ask Max, and he nods that he does. “The night before that, Danny thought they could repair their marriage by getting her pregnant. When she said no, he fucking raped her.”

It only takes a second before Max heaves the sander across the room and slamming against the wall, shattering into jagged pieces which scatter across the room.

Chapter 17

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