to my stomach.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Richard muttered.

“Get up already,” Carolyn said, flat and bored.

I tried.

I really did.

Before I could make it to my feet, Ethan stepped to the corner of the kitchen and grabbed a thick wooden rod we used to wedge a back window in place when it stuck.

When he turned back toward me with it in his hand, all the blood drained out of my body at once.

“I said get up!”

The first blow hit my thigh so hard I screamed.

The pain was so bright and violent it felt unreal.

I curled over my belly and wrapped both arms around it, trying to make my own body a shield.

Madison kept filming.

Carolyn leaned back in her chair.

“She deserves it,” she said.

“Hit her again.

Maybe she’ll finally learn respect.”

I was crying by then, begging, not for me but for the baby.

“Please don’t hurt the baby.

Please.”

Ethan looked almost insulted by my fear.

“Oh, now you care?” he shouted, lifting the rod again.

“You don’t respect your husband.

You don’t respect this family.”

That was when I saw my phone.

It had slipped from the pocket of my robe when I fell.

It was lying near the kitchen island, screen lit, only a few feet away.

I did not think.

I moved.

Richard barked, “Grab her!”

I lunged across the tile, every muscle in my body screaming.

My fingertips reached the screen just before Ethan reached me.

Jake’s name was already near the top of my messages.

I hit it and typed the only thing I could.

HELP.

The message sent.

Ethan saw the screen in my hand and changed instantly.

The shouting disappeared.

That scared me more than the rage.

He ripped the phone away and slammed it against the wall so hard it burst into black pieces over the tile.

Then he grabbed my hair and yanked my head back until my throat stretched.

“You think someone is coming to save you?” he whispered into my ear.

“Today you learn where you belong.”

My vision blurred at the edges.

And then the front door started shaking under a violent pounding.

The whole kitchen froze.

It was the first time that morning I saw fear move across Ethan’s face.

The pounding came again.

“Don’t open it,” Carolyn hissed, standing so fast her chair scraped backward.

Richard snatched the rod from Ethan and shoved it behind the pantry cabinet.

Madison dropped her phone to her side so quickly she almost lost her grip.

Then Jake’s voice came through the house.

“I got your text! Open this door!”

I have never heard a more beautiful sound in my life.

Ethan’s face went white.

He grabbed my arm and tried to yank me upright.

Pain shot through my leg so hard I nearly blacked out again.

“Stand up,” he said under his breath.

“Now.”

Carolyn bent close to me, the smell of coffee and perfume on her breath.

“Smile,” she whispered.

“You fainted.

That’s the story.”

Jake kept pounding.

“I already called 911,” he yelled.

“Open this door before I break it down.”

That sentence cracked the room open.

Richard took a step away from the pantry like it had started burning.

Carolyn stopped pretending to look