CHAPTER 3: What Did You Make Her Do?

Daniel reached across the sink and turned off the faucet.
The sudden silence changed the room.
Emma held the sponge with both hands now, like a small shield she did not know how to put down.
Daniel looked past her to his family.
"Why is my wife doing dishes at ten o'clock at night?" he asked.
Evelyn gave a soft laugh that did not belong in the room.
"Daniel, please. She is only helping. A house does not run itself."
Emma's mouth opened, then closed.
Daniel saw it.
He had spent ten years in boardrooms reading the moment before someone lied. He had never hated that talent more than he did now.
"I asked why," he said.
Richard cleared his throat. "Your mother thought it would be good for Emma to stay active."
Paige looked down at her phone.
Emma made a small sound. Not a protest. More like a warning to herself not to make things worse.
Daniel heard it anyway.
For months he had thought pregnancy had made her quieter. He had blamed fatigue, hormones, appointments, the gentle withdrawal of a woman preparing to become a mother.
Now he wondered how many times she had gone quiet because someone in his bloodline taught her that silence was safer.
Daniel did not look away from them.
"Stay active," he repeated.
The words sounded expensive and rotten.