Chapter 1: The Golden Cage of Gypsum
“Sign the house over to me and get out!” he screamed, shattering the glass against my broken body. He thought my silence was submission. He didn’t know I was simply buffering the video file that would send him to prison for twenty years.
The master bedroom of my home—the one I had bought with my own tech startup earnings three years before I even met Marcus—smelled of antiseptic and stale lavender. It used to be my sanctuary, a space of light and air. Now, it was a warehouse of medical equipment. A hydraulic lift sat in the corner like a metal skeleton. Boxes of gauze and saline solution were stacked on the vanity, obscuring the mirror.
I sat in my wheelchair, my legs encased in heavy plaster casts that ran from my toes to my mid-thighs. The pins in my tibia ached with a dull, throbbing rhythm that matched my heartbeat.
Marcus paced by the window, his silhouette rigid against the afternoon sun. He was on the phone, his voice a hushed, angry whisper.
