I sat still, and I let them fill the courtroom with their contempt, and I waited, because I knew something they did not, and my silence was the last thing protecting it.

Chapter 3 — Silence Was My Shield

Silence had been my shield for a very long time by then, and, more than a shield, it had become my one secret weapon, and I had learned to wield it with a discipline that would have astonished the people who thought they knew me.

Because Roman and Marion had spent years reading my silence as submission.

When Roman belittled me at dinner parties, I went quiet, and he heard surrender.