Her face changed.
“Why is that there?”
“Work.”
“You said you were resigning.”
“I said I would quit.”
Her eyebrows tightened.
“That is what resigning means.”
“I know.”
She folded her arms.
“You are not leaving.”
I looked at her.
“Watch me.”
The color left her face.
“What?”
I stood.
“You heard me.”
“You cannot walk out after what happened.”
I almost laughed.
“After what you did?”
“I was correcting you.”
“No.”
“You needed discipline.”
“You assaulted me.”
Her expression hardened.
“Careful.”
“You held me down and shaved my head while I slept.”
“You are being ridiculous.”
“Good.”
I reached for my phone.
“Repeat that when the police arrive.”
Her face froze.
“The what?”
“Police.”
Silence.
“You called the police on me?”
“Yes.”
She looked genuinely shocked.
Not ashamed.
Betrayed.
That told me everything.
“You would call the police on your husband’s mother?”
“Yes.”
“For cutting hair?”
“For assaulting me while unconscious.”
She started breathing faster.
“Daniel.”
She shouted his name.
“Daniel.”
He came down the stairs looking half asleep.
“What?”
Then he saw my suitcase.
Then my phone.
Then Eleanor’s face.
“What’s going on?”
His mother pointed at me.
“She called the police.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“You did what?”
“I reported what happened.”
His face reddened.
“Mariana.”
“No.”
“You are not doing this.”
“I already did.”
“This is insane.”
I opened the refrigerator.
I poured myself water.
My hands no longer shook.
“Cancel it.”
“No.”
“Mariana.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
I lifted my phone.
“Do not touch me.”
He stopped.
That was new.
He stared at me.
“You are destroying this family over hair.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I am leaving because when your mother assaulted me, you told me I caused it.”
He swallowed.
“That isn’t what I said.”
“It is exactly what you said.”
“You were emotional.”
“I recorded nothing.”
I paused.
“But I wrote it down.”
His face changed.
“I also have photographs.”
Eleanor snapped.
“She is trying to manipulate you.”
Daniel looked at her.
Then at me.
“Can we talk privately?”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“What do you want?”
There it was.
Not are you okay.
Not are you hurt.
What do you want.
“I want both of you out.”
Silence.
Eleanor laughed.
Then stopped when I did not.
“What?”
I looked at her.
“This house is mine.”
Daniel went pale.
“You know that.”
He stared.
