Pregnant For My Father-in-Law
His exact words were “Burn it all, wifey. Buy whatever you want. Make it perfect for my birthday and Christmas.”
Like money could fix what he’d broken. Like shopping could erase the slaps, the starvation, the way he fucks around, the way he’d shown me my brother chained like an animal and then threatened to kill him if I ever stepped out of line.
Guards were everywhere, black suits, earpieces, eyes tracking my every move.
There were no other customers. The mall had been cleared for me. Only sales girls remained, they are young and nervous, dressed in uniforms with store logos, definitely Jasper’s people. They watched me like I was a bomb that might go off.