But when I told him I was pregnant, the letter said, everything changed.

Everything.

Chapter 17 — The Locked Office

He didn’t offer to help, the letter continued, and I could feel the temperature of my daughter’s words dropping as I read, the warmth going out of them, the fear coming in.

He didn’t do a single one of the things a decent person would do.

When I told him about the baby, he took me into his private office, and he closed the door, and he locked it, and then he showed me who he really was.

He told me that if I ever said his name to anyone, the letter said, anyone at all, including you, Mom, especially you, he would destroy us.