I have every right to explain why your daughter cannot be removed from property she legally controls.”
The police officer Madison had called stepped farther into the dining room.
He had entered expecting an ordinary trespassing complaint.
Now his eyes moved from my swollen cheek to the deed, the overturned chair, and the folder beneath my hand.
“Who struck you?” he asked me.
Madison answered before I could.
“Nobody struck her.
She is doing this because she is jealous.”
The officer looked at the red line beneath my eye.
“I asked her.”
I met his gaze.
“My sister slapped me in front of everyone at this table.”
Jake closed his eyes.
My mother whispered, “Natalie, please.”
That word almost made me laugh.
Please had never been used when
