“Sophie!” My mother’s horrified scream tore through the room.
She shoved me violently aside and threw herself down beside Sophie.
“My daughter, my precious girl, are you alright? Don’t scare your mom!”
My father shook with rage, his eyes bloodshot as though he wanted to devour me alive.
“You’re insane! How dare you lay hands on her?”
He roared, ripping off his belt without hesitation.
Without giving me a chance to explain, he swung it down hard.
Snap!
The belt lashed across my arm, the searing pain splitting my skin into a red welt.
“I’ll beat you to death, you wretched child!”
Snap!
Another strike across my back.
The pain drove me stumbling forward, nearly collapsing to my knees.
I clenched my teeth, enduring in silence.
I knew—explaining now was useless. They wouldn’t believe me. They didn’t want to believe me.
All they trusted was Sophie.
My silence seemed only to enrage him further.
“How could the Bennett family produce such a vicious creature—someone who would even harm her own sister?”
He brought the belt down again and again, each strike raising bloody welts across my body.
My mother clutched Sophie protectively, shouting through the chaos: