Chapter 49

Tears that no one is worth

I was standing by the entrance. He was staring at me with that intense gaze, waiting for me to speak. The fact that he controls me like this, the constant thinking about what I should say or what he might think—it’s exhausting. I’m tired. Tired of living a life where men decide what I can or cannot do, who I can or cannot talk to. I’m tired of being afraid of them. I know I can’t change the fact that I tremble in fear every time I see my father.

When Dante looks at me and I don’t know what to say, it makes me anxious—not because I’m scared he’ll hit me. No. I’m just… this is how I was raised. Some might call it cowardice. If I told someone that I always explain to my husband where I’ve been or why I talked to someone, they’d laugh. But this is how I was raised. Still, it’s becoming too much. So much that I no longer care if Dante gets angry. I’ll say what actually happened. It’s time to start changing something in my life.

“Yes, we talked a lot. It was a pr