“She is my wife.”

“She is a human being, Derek,” Arthur said.

He looked at his son with a mixture of disgust and horror.

“I have never seen you act like this,” Arthur said.

“Because you never looked,” I said, my voice tight as I tried to pull my arm away.

Derek’s grip did not loosen.

“You want to see what I can do?” Derek asked, looking down at me with a cold smile.

“You want to show your lawyer what happens when you cross me?”

“Derek, stop it,” Eleanor wept.

She was clutching her pearls, her body trembling near the doorway.

“This is not you,” she said.

“This is exactly him, Eleanor,” I said.

“He does this every time I try to speak.”

“Shut up,” Derek snarled.

He raised his free hand, his fingers curling into a fist.

For a second, the entire room seemed to hold its breath.

The wind rattled the French doors behind us, a sudden gust of winter air seeping through the seals.

“Go ahead,” I said, looking him directly in the eyes.

“Do it in front of them.”