“Are you blaming me for all this? I’m trying to keep a roof over our heads. I don’t have the luxury of a nervous breakdown.”

“That’s not fair.” My voice cracked a little, and I hated how weak it sounded. Was that who he saw when he looked at me? The broken-down mess whose total collapse had brought us to Texas in the first place? Grace was crying louder now, the sound vibrating through my body.

“None of this is fucking fair.”

He wheeled around, but before he could escape into the bedroom, I caught his arm. “You can’t just blame me and shut me out. We’re in this together. We’re a family.”

That traumatized woman I’d been before was gone. I was stronger than he knew.

But when he looked back at me, his face was flushed and his eyes were glassy and distant.

“We’re not in this together. You weren’t there. It’s just me.”

My breath caught. “You don’t mean that.”

When his hand balled into a fist, I flinched, ducking away to protect my bruised cheek.

His gaze fell, and he shoved his hand into his pocket, muttering, “Go get the baby already.” He strode back into the bedroom, slamming the door.

And I let him go.

Shaking, I went to lift Grace from her crib, trying to catch my breath.

We’d always been in it together. That was our deal. That was what he’d said when we moved. If we weren’t a team, why the hell was I still here? Grace and I could be up in New Jersey watching football with my parents as the aroma of Crock-Pot chili filled their home. I could be hanging out with my big sister Charlotte, pretending to watch her kids while really they watched Grace.

Her sobs had subsided, and now she was rooting around my neck and shoulder, looking for comfort. I settled her against my breast as the tears blurring my vision finally spilled over. You weren’t there. But we had been, hadn’t we, Grace and I? Although we’d been safe at home, asleep, as far as Michael was concerned, we’d been in that room with all the blood and death. He’d seen us on the video monitor, and he’d known the danger we were in. We were the reason he’d been afraid to challenge Brady. If it hadn’t been for us, he wouldn’t have had to play along. When he looked at me now, did it put him right back in that room?