The atmosphere around the mansion was thick with tension for days after my careless outburst towards Jack. We continued coexisting, but it was like living alongside a total stranger - one whose cold, emotionless presence radiated simmering danger at every turn.
Jack had retreated so far inside his icy, strategic mindset that I may as well have been an untrusted business adversary to him instead of a wife. Every interaction was curt and transactional, no hint of the subtleties or tenderness that previously defined our bond.
Part of me couldn't blame him, as shameful as it was to admit. I'd gone too far by openly questioning his tactics in combating his family's depravity. In doing so, I naively underestimated the entrenched psychology driving Jack's willful resistance against their crusa
