You’ve been married to him five years — and he has thrown you out of that group chat twenty-eight times.” She looked me up and down.

“He doesn’t love you, Charlotte.

He needed you.

You cook, you clean, you raise his son, and you don’t even cost him a salary.”

Chloe darted forward with her little fists clenched.

“Don’t talk to my mom like that!”

And Tristan appeared behind his mother — walking, I saw, perfectly well, without a trace of a limp or an injury — and he shoved Chloe hard.

She went down against the floor.