“Go inside,” Father ordered Mother, his voice tight.

“Get the guests out of here,” he said.

Mother didn’t move; she just stood there, looking at the broken glass on the ground.

The hot summer breeze blew across the patio, carrying the smell of the charcoal grill from earlier.

It felt suffocating, like the air in a room that was about to burn.

Chloe wiped her nose with the back of her hand and stared at Father with pure disgust.

“I am going to tell everyone,” Chloe said.

“Every single person who ever thought you were a good man,” she said.

“They will know what you did to your own daughter.”

Father stepped toward her, his face dark with a look I had seen many times before.

It was the look he gave me when I asked to go to a public school, the look that meant silence.

“You will do no such thing,” Father said.

“Try and stop me,” Chloe said.

She took a deep breath, her chest expanding, and turned toward the lawn where the guests stood.

“Listen to me!” Chloe shouted at the crowd.