Something inside me—some small, forgotten spark of the woman I used to be before the Vanderbilt name became my cage—finally snapped. I was tired of being the silent witness to his failures.
"I don't understand what is happening!" I said, my voice rising, shaking with a mix of terror and a sudden, sharp defiance. "Why are you being so mean? Lately, you have been treating me like s**t, Jason. I am not a punching bag for your bad business deals! I am your wife!"
The silence that followed was deafening. It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. It was the first time I had truly raised my voice since the violence had started months ago. The first time I hadn't just curled into a ball and waited for the weather to change.
Jason’s expression went dangerously flat. The rage didn't d
