32
The weight of his slap landed hard on my cheek, sending me crashing to the ground. If it had been the first time he hit me, maybe I would’ve cried or felt broken. But ever since Grace came into our lives, being struck by my father had become part of the new norm.
“Amber!” Claire shouted, forgetting her own troubles as she rushed to me despite her age. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. It’s not the first time.”
Claire turned to my father with rage in her eyes. “Shame on you! Is this how we raised you? I wish I’d given birth to a stone instead of you!”
Because that… that was the harshest thing a mother could ever say to her child.
“Mom… she pushed my buttons. I didn’t mean to…”
Maybe he felt ashamed. But not because of what he did to me—because he did it in front
